Raiders No Longer
by Tilde-Heart
Summary: The Notraiders have invaded the earth, and the long-awaited battle with Darknest encroaches upon the Cures. Before they can face him, however, they must face Kappard, Tenjou and Aiwan—and confront the trio's inner demons.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! This is a fic I've been working on here and there, about how I envisioned a hypothetical redemption/pruficiation scenario for the Notraiders would go! I should note that this was finished around the time episode 37 aired, so if it contradicts anything that happens in canon then most likely it's due to being written before then. Also, this delves quite a bit into my personal headcanons for the generals, particularly Tenjou and Aiwan.**

**Now that that's over with, happy reading!**

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This wasn't supposed to happen.

Everything should have been okay! They had just awakened all the Star Princesses, the palace had been restored thanks to their power… Heck, they were even starting to kinda figure out what that Twinkle Imagination stuff was! Everything should've been okay now, right?

Wrong. They were all so very wrong.

When their rocket finally arrived on Earth, the first sigh was that the planet wasn't its usual, beautiful blue and green. It was a weird, sickly greenish-grayish color, with churning purple vortexes planted all over the globe that crackled with thunder and sharp wind. It had been a miracle they even arrived in one piece!

But when they landed… It was worse, so far worse than they could've ever imagined.

The beautiful, lush forest and lake they called their hideout had been reduced to a rocky, dry plains filled with withered trees, and the areas that surrounded were no better off. All around the skies were a churning purple-green color and crackled with electricity, but that wasn't the worst thing that they had seen—that honor belonged to _who_ they saw.

Notreis, everywhere. They were marching down streets, picking up comatose bodies of people and animals and loading them into strange spaceships, vandalizing buildings and tearing down plantlife… It was like something out of their worst nightmares.

All they could do was stare in complete and utter shocked as they saw Notreis march through the withered trees and carry away people who were undoubtedly comatose and doomed.

"Oh no…" Prunce whispered, unable to made anything other than a worried frown.

"I don't like this-fuwa…" Fuwa whimpered as she immediately flew towards Hikaru.

Hikaru only winced as she cuddled Fuwa and looked out towards the withered landscapes. Just how much had happened since they were gone? Had he gotten all of Mihoshi, heck, all the world even? How many of his forces were here? Were her mom and grandparents and Yeti safe, or had she been too late? Was her dad safe as he wandered halfway across the globe?

All these questions only made a pit form in Hikaru's heart, a pit that was only slightly filled as she cuddled Fuwa.

"How could this have happened-lun…" Lala whispered as she broke out into a cold sweat.

The others couldn't even bring themselves to speak. All they could do was stare wide-eyed and terrified at all the sights around them, as if the same questions Hikaru had ran in their minds as well.

"Oh no…" Elena whispered before she took a step forward and sprinted across the rocky ground, "I need to find my family!"

"I have to get back to my parents!" Madoka proclaimed as she dashed after Elena.

"Elena, Madoka, wait!" Hikaru yelled as she released Fuwa and stumbled after them, but she was far too late! They had already run well out of hearing range.

Hikaru only heaved a worried sigh as Fuwa flew beside her, her mind completely numb… Then she came back to her senses as she felt two hands drop on her shoulders. As she looked to her sides to see Lala and Yuni, Hikaru shook her head and gained a determined expression.

"Fuwa, stay in the rocket with Prunce," Hikaru said as she turned towards Fuwa, "We're gonna go find Elena and Madoka!"

Fuwa whimpered for just a bit, but nodded nonetheless as she rushed back to the rocket's hideout with Prunce close by her side.

"I'll go find Madoka-lun," Lala said as she looked towards Hikaru than ran off, "You two search for Elena-lun!"

Hikaru and Yuni looked at each other, then nodded as they rushed off in pursuit themselves.

§

Hikaru and Yuni's breath was heavy, the pound of their hearts even heavier as they followed after Elena. The blood rushed through their ears as they ran down abandoned streets filled with unconscious humans and withered, dead flora, until they finally made out what seemed like the opening to the shopping district.

Granted, it was kind of hard to tell at first. The buildings that hadn't been broken and torn down were covered in graffiti, the familiar plants that decorated the area were completely dead and broken, and worst yet…

Notreis. Were. Everywhere.

"Geez, there's even more of these things here then at the forest!" Hikaru shouted as she ducked behind a leafless, dried-out bush while a few Notreis passed her by, "How're we supposed to find Elena?"

Yuni only chuckled as she withdrew the Rainbow Perfume.

"Have mew forgotten who you're talking to?" Yuni asked as she pulled the trigger and was encased in a sweet-smelling cyan cloud.

When Yuni emerged from the smoke, she was no longer Yuni… But rather, just another normal Notrei! Okay, normal save for Yuni's trademark tail and ears, but surely none of them were smart enough to notice, right?

"Come on, Hikaru," Yuni said, her voice a bit muffled by the mask of her disguise, "We have to get in there and find—"

"Notrei?" Said a voice from behind them.

Yuni winced, then rigidly turned around and found herself face to face with a small group of Notreis! They all looked completely identical to any other Notrei with their skinny, full-suited bodies and masks, yet just the mere sight of them made Hikaru's blood turn cold.

"Not, notrei?" The head Notrei asked as it pointed to a very terrified-looking Hikaru.

"No, not, not, not not rei, reinotnot!" Yuni replied in the most Notrei-esque voice she could muster.

The Notreis looked at Yuni as if she was speaking a foreign language, then finally they looked at each other and shrugged. With a few extra murmurs they passed Yuni by, completely oblivious to the sigh of relief she had made the moment they were out of earshot.

"Thank goodness," Hikaru sighed as Yuni pulled her out of the bush, "I almost thought that wasn't going to work,"—Hikaru clasped Yuni's gloved hands in her own as her eyes sparkled—"You really are a master of disguise!"

"We can save the complements for later." Yuni withdrew her hands from Hikaru's, "First, we need to find Elena!"

"Oh, right!"

Before Yuni or Hikaru could say or do anything thing more, a pained cry echoed from within the ruins of what was once Mihoshi's shopping district—a pained cry that sounded awfully familiar…

"Elena!" Yuni and Hikaru called at once as they raced inside the shopping district.

It hadn't taken them long to navigate their way over to Sonrisa—they had been there more times than they could count at this point, after all—but when they arrived it had been so dismantled, it was like it was a completely different place!

The beautiful sign had been split in half, all the flowers seated at the outside display had completely withered and died, but worst yet, Notreis were stationed outside the shop! They were lined up in height from tallest to smallest like stacking dolls, and they had awfully familiar body shapes… Wait a second.

Oh no.

There, right in front of the tallest and bulkiest Notrei was Elena, completely oblivious to everything around as she pounded on its chest.

"Please, Papa!" Elena sobbed, tears streaked down her warm brown cheeks as she looked up at the Notrei, "It's me, Elena! Your daughter! Don't you remember me?"

"NOTREI!" The Notrei proclaimed as it grabbed Elena by her leg and tossed her across the plaza!

Elena screamed out as she flew, only to stop as Yuni jumped into action and caught Elena in an instant! With a grunt Yuni stood, then allowed Elena to jump back to her feet.

"Elena!" Hikaru cried as she raced to Elena's side, "What happened?"

Elena, the normally so sunny, so warm, so radiant Elena, the sun of Mihoshi… For once, couldn't shine. She couldn't even make a smile, all she could do was curl up in Hikaru's arms and cry into her shoulder.

"Elena, what's wrong?" Hikaru frowned as she hugged Elena, then cast a better glance at the Notreis. As she got another, proper look at them, her face fell with realization.

"No way." Hikaru's voice was breathy and stuffed with shock, "It can't be…"

Hikaru couldn't say it, not in front of Elena, but she already knew. Those Notreis… They had to have been the rest of Elena's family, completely brainwashed and mindless and devoid of their past identities.

As Elena sobbed further, Yuni pulled out her Rainbow Perfume and with a spritz transformed back into her human disguise before she withdrew her pendant. Yuni reached for her pen… But Hikaru grabbed on to her hand before she could.

"Hikaru, what are you doing?!" Yuni demanded before she saw the look in Hikaru's eyes and quickly pursed her lips.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Hikaru said as Elena withdrew from her shoulder.

Hikaru frowned as she watched Elena sniffle, then gently wiped away Elena's tears.

"We'll find a way to save them, I promise."

With a weak nod, the three of them darted out the shopping district's open gate and headed towards the fields across. The dead grass crunched under their shoes, and the whole area felt so sad and lonely with its lack of occupants, dried out rivers and dead flora. Even the Notreis seemed to avoid it, which was good for Hikaru, quite honestly.

Once they were all certain there were no Notreis in sight, Hikaru, Elena and Yuni stopped short as they caught their breath. As they finally regained their strength, Yuni's ear twitched and she looked to the awful, awful skies, which still churned with dark clouds and multi-color lightning.

"Do you think Lala was able to find Madoka?" Yuni asked as she looked back at Hikaru and Elena.

"Wait, Madoka left too?" Elena asked as she gave Hikaru and Yuni a look of surprise, "I was so worried about my family, I didn't even notice anything else…"

Hikaru only nodded.

"She went to find her parents a little after you left," Hikaru explained, "And Lala went with her,"—Hikaru frowned as she toyed with her pigtails—"I sure hope they're alright…"

Hikaru lifted her head up as the sound of heavy, choked panting and footsteps became audible in the distance. Notreis?! Hikaru instinctively drew out her pendant and pen, as did Elena and Yuni… Only to put them aside as they saw that it was none other than Lala and Madoka!

Except, they had transformed into Cures Milky and Selene, and Madoka's face was worn and puffy as if she had been crying…

"What happened?" Hikaru asked as Milky and Selene caught their breaths at last.

"It's just like I was afraid," Selene sniffled in between pants, "My parents' imagination was stolen! When I found them, they were unconscious outside our house…"—Selene wiped away her tears with the back of her hand—"I did my best to save them, but there were, too, too many of them…"

Before Selene could even say a word more, her transformation dropped and she fell unconscious into Milky's arms!

"Too many?" Yuni exclaimed as she raced to Madoka's side and tried to shake her awake, "What, Madoka? Too many what? What is it?"

"NOTREI!" Cried an entire chorus of Notreis as they encircled the Cures!

"… Them-lun," Milky winced as she gritted her teeth and protectively cradled Madoka.

As the Notreis enclosed further, Hikaru, Elena and Yuni all withdrew their pendants, all eyes fixed on the Notreis save for Hikaru's.

"Lala," Hikaru said as she looked back at Milky, "We'll take care of these guys, you make sure Madoka stays safe!"

"Lun!" Milky exclaimed as she drew further back from the Notreis.

Within moments, Hikaru, Elena and Yuni had plunged their pens into the pendants, then withdrew them as they glowed with bright lights in their signature colors—pink, yellow and blue, respectively.

"STAR COLOR PENDANT!" They proclaimed to the cloudy heavens as they drew a star, sun and triangle out of light, "COLOR CHARGE!"

The symbols they drew glowed with an intense shine, then transformed into pillars of pink, yellow and blue light! These pillars lasted for only moments and vanished shortly afterwards, though the change they left was more than enough to be noticed—for when the trio emerged and struck their poses, it was as Precure!

"The star brightly twinkling above!" Hikaru proclaimed, "Cure Star!"

"Incandescent radiance, illuminate the universe!" Elena exclaimed, "Cure Soleil!"

"The rainbow spectrum lightning up the galaxy!" Yuni announced, "Cure Cosmo!"

Now rejuvenated with the special kind of power that came with being a Precure, Cures Star, Soleil and Cosmo jumped into action! Between punches, kicks and magical blasts, the Notreis were wiped down like ants in the midst of a magical, combat-filled flood... And yet, something was very wrong. Every time they got rid of a few, more Notreis filled in the bridge the gap! It was like they were infinite in numbers!

"Geez, how many of these guys are there?!" Star asked aloud as she punched a star straight into a section of Notreis.

"I don't know," Soleil replied as she sent out a barrage of rapid-fire kicks and watched her victims fly into the skies, "But there's way too many, that's for sure!"

"I hate to say it," Cosmo said as she lifted up the Rainbow Perfume and pulled the trigger, then watched as the blasts of light it emitted knocked even more Notreis away, "But we're completely outnumbered!"

As the battle continued to rage, Milky imposed herself over Selene as if she was a living shield. Her face was decorated with a concerned frown as she watched the fighting unfold before her eyes, then finally she herself stood tall and withdrew the Leo Princess Pen.

"LEO MILKY SHOCK!" Milky exclaimed as she jumped above the circle.

Milky plunged the Leo Princess Pen into her pendant, whipped it out and drew a star with the light her pendant gave the pen.

Within moments, gigantic lightning bolts shaped like twin lions crashed down into the fray and shocked the Notreis into unconscious! Thankfully, that lightning strike was just what they needed, for it knocked out most of the Notreis and probably dwindled their forces by about half!

Milky made a content smile as she dropped back down to the ground and knelt down next to Madoka, who had slowly stirred.

"Lala…" Madoka groaned as she sat up and rubbed her eyes, "What happened? I had this awful dream, and—"—Madoka stopped short as she finally fully awakened and saw the battle unfold before her—"It wasn't a dream, was it?"

"I'm afraid not-lun," Milky grimaced as she gazed over the battlefield, where even more Notreis had slowly started to flood in.

Madoka grimaced, then lifted up her pendant and hazily reached for her Pen. With slow, thoughtless movements she patted down the pockets of her dress, completely oblivious to the battle around her.

"WATCH OUT-LUN!" Milky exclaimed as she jumped in front of Madoka and was promptly tackled to the ground by a pack of Notreis!

"LALA!" Madoka exclaimed as she ran to Milky's side, only to get punched in the back by a Notrei! With a scream she crashed onto the cold earth and trembled.

"Milky, Madoka!" Star exclaimed as she turned around and went to retrieve them… But before she could, a bunch of Notreis blocked the way to them!

Star winced, then walked backwards, only for even more Notreis to close her, Soleil and Cosmo inside their little circle. There were so many, it would be impossible to get out of the way!

Is this the end?

Before Star could think or say anything else, something blue and slick and squishy wrapped around her waist and lifted her off the ground! Like a rocket it flew past the Notreis and across the churning skies, with Star held tight in its grasp!

"The heck?!"

Star looked across to see that she wasn't the only one taken—all the other Cures had tagged along for the ride, and they were just as baffled as she was! Star frowned, then looked up and beamed, for there above her and about twenty times her size was none other than…

"Prunce!" Star called as her small beam became a wide smile!

Prunce smiled, but said nothing in response as he flew over to their hideout and dropped them all onto the tiny island where they rested their rocket. Once they were all certain of their safety, Prunce exhaled and returned back to his normal size.

"Is everybody alright-purunsu?" Prunce asked as his head whipped back and forth.

"Thanks to you," Cosmo sighed as her transformation dropped, as did the others', "Mew really saved us back there!"

"Oh, it was no problem-purunsu…" Prunce smiled and blushed as he rubbed the back of his head.

Prunce then floated over to what was presumably the rocket's door—it was hard to tell, since they had put up a cloaking field before they left—then ushered everyone inside as it opened.

They all ran inside and took seats at the hub room, but it was far from relieving… It fact, it made them all feel more defeated than anything.

"Is everyone alright-fuwa?" Fuwa asked as she flew to Star and rested on her lap.

"I wish…" Elena whispered as she hung her head, her hands rested on her lap, "We were completely outmatched and outpowered, too! I couldn't even save my own family from…"

Elena bit her lip as tears formed in her violet eyes. It felt wrong to see the normally sunny and confident Elena so defeated and pessimistic, but after all that had happened, who could blame her?

"Oyo…" Lala sighed as she toyed with her antenna.

"What are we going to do now?" Madoka asked as she tugged on the skirt of her dress.

Yuni didn't even say a thing, she just cast an aside glance at the window overhead. However, her frown and disinterested stare made it clear that she felt the same things that everyone else was feeling.

Hikaru frowned as she watched everybody sulk and bask in their defeats, their sorrow a grim aura around the normally-peppy area. Then finally, Hikaru released Fuwa and slammed a hand down on the table, which earned the attention of everyone around!

"Whatever we do…" Hikaru proclaimed as she held her pendant tight, "We can't give up!"

To emphasize her point, Hikaru jumped up and stood on top of her chair.

"We spent all this time fighting, searching for the Star Princesses, caring for Fuwa, looking for Twinkle Imagination… We all worked so hard to get to where we are now! We can't just give up!"

"But they've got so many forces out there already-lun…" Lala said as she looked up towards Hikaru, "Even as Precure, we were completely helpless to stop them-lun!"

Elena and Madoka nodded in agreement, their gaze avoidant of Hikaru's.

"There's gotta be some way, though! There's always a way!" Hikaru pounded a fist against her hand, "Remember when we got really beaten up on that one planet and had those pens stolen from us? We still got them back, and we got the Twinkle Sticks too! Or the time when Aiwan turned herself into a Notrigger, or when Samaan got taken over, or Garuogre attacked us out of nowhere…"

Before anyone could object or even say anything further, Yuni got out of her chair and stood tall.

"Hikaru's right, you know," Yuni said to the shock of everyone around.

"Yuni…" Hikaru whispered as she looked down at Yuni.

"Your perseverance is your best point! You've never lost hope, even in the tightest spots!" Yuni's amber eyes glared down Lala, Elena and Madoka, "Even in times when I would've turned tail and ran, you still stood and fought!"

As Hikaru cast an excited smile down at Yuni, Yuni made a small smirk of her own.

"Mew've gotten yourselves out of every hopeless situation you've gotten into so far. Mew's to say you won't get out of this one?"

Lala, Elena and Madoka's heads all lifted to reveal that their eyes sparkled with a bit of inspiration.

"Besides, meow's not the time to sulk!" Yuni's tone turned stern as her eyes narrowed, "Your entire planet… No, the entire universe is at stake here! There's no time to sit around and throw a big pity party for ourselves!"

All were silent for a few moments… Then Elena stepped out of her chair.

"That's right…" Elena whispered as her eyes shimmered with their trademark sunny glint, "All those times, we really did get ourselves out of some really tough spots."

"I'd almost forgotten," Madoka said as she joined Elena, a weak smile spread across her face.

"And if we got out of those-lun…" Lala reluctantly stepped out of her chair, then made a weak smile as she withdrew her pendant, "Then surely we can stop Darknest and save the Earth!"

Hikaru's eyes sparkled as she made an excited gasp.

"That's what I like to hear!" Hikaru exclaimed as she thrust a fist to the ceiling, "Now let's go kick Darknest's butt!"

"Hold on, Hikaru-lun!" Lala warned as she looked down at her control pad, "We need to find him first-lun!"

"Oh." Hikaru chuckled as she jumped off of her seat and scratched her cheek, "Right."

Lala sat herself in front of the rocket's AI control panel while everybody watched with bated breath, then typed something in at the speed of light.

"AI!" Lala exclaimed, "Can you locate the source of all this darkness-lun?"

"Scanning premises now," Lala's AI responded with its ever-diligent tone. The anticipation only grew greater as the AI spent several minutes processing… Then it made a content series of beeps.

"The source of the darkness seems to be this location," The AI replied as a holographic screen popped out from the console.

The screen's electric reflection wavered slightly like that of those old TVs, but it still stood strong enough to depict a Notrei-ridden hill topped with a broken building crushed underneath a gigantic spaceship and withered, dead trees everywhere...

"Whoa, hold up!" Hikaru exclaimed as she leaned over Lala, "That's where the observatory is!"—Hikaru looked over to Fuwa—"Fuwa, come here!"

"Fuwa?" Fuwa chirped as she flew over to Hikaru and examined the screen.

"Think you could warp us there?" Hikaru looked over at Fuwa.

"Sure thing-fuwa!" Fuwa smiled and nodded her head.

"Alright!"

Within moments, the girls withdrew their pendants, then inserted their pens into the pendants' open slots.

"STAR COLOR PENDANT!" They exclaimed, a new hope in their voices as they drew their symbols, "COLOR CHARGE!"

In moments they were engulfed in colorful pillars of light, then emerged just as quickly in their Precure getup! A new sense of power radiated around their bodies, as if the hope they had regained had crystallized into solid, unshakable power!

"Alright, Fuwa," Star said with a cheery nod, "Do your thing!"

Fuwa nodded, then lowered her head as her horn glowed in a rainbow myriad.

"FUWARP!" Fuwa proclaimed as a bright ball of light shot out of her horn and straight at the Cures!

However, the Cures didn't flinch or jump out of the way. Rather, they only embraced the light as it engulfed them and whooshed them away…

§

With a whoosh and a few sparkles remaining, the entire team found themselves whisked away to what was normally the location of Mihoshi's beloved observatory… But now, the observatory was no more. In the place where it once stood and brought joy to Star's heart laid a gigantic spaceship planted over the barely-visible wreckage of the observatory itself. And in front of that ship itself laid none other than Darknest, with Garuogre close by his side.

"So you've arrived, _Precure_," Darknest hissed, his voice warped and almost mechanical-sounding as he held out a clawed hand, "Have you come to deliver the great power to me?"

"You wish!" Star shouted back as she took a step forward and balled her hands into fists, "Turn our planet back to normal, right now!"

"I'll do that…" Darknest's eyes narrowed, "If you can defeat us, but that's completely impossible!"

"We'll see about that!" Star looked back at the others, "Come on, girls!"

All five Cures nodded in unison, then leaped forward with fists bared and pens at the ready! In moments, they shot out a barrage of magical attacks that shot off and morphed into one gigantic shooting star! Theat shooting star rocketed towards Garuogre and Darknest…

But before their attack could even get within an inch of the two, Garuogre held up his hand and a gigantic blade crashed down in the space between them! The blade nullified the attack immediately, with not a scratch even left on its shiny, sleek surface.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Star exclaimed as she stumbled back before a shadow fell over the battlefield.

Star shuddered and looked up… Then her eyes went wide.

There before her was none other than some kind of gigantic, living weapon! It had shiny, curved swords for arms with about a hundred tiny blades stuck out from the shoulders, its head was little more than a gigantic helmet with long, blade-like fangs emerged from the mouth flap and bloodshot blank eyes, and its entire torso an armor plate. Its legs were covered in sharp spikes, with its feet no more than gigantic, spiky maces. But worse yet, its body shape vaguely reminded Star of someone she knew…

Before anyone could even say a thing, however, two more shadows were cast over the area before two more monsters crashed next to the living weapon!

One had the appearance of a gigantic Notrei, but with a black half-mask sculpted with a long nose over its face and a flaming, wild red mane of hair atop its head. A gigantic leaf-shaped fan was held tight in its fist, but other than that it was still like a statue.

The other, meanwhile, looked a bit like a gigantic, monstrous cyclops doll with pinkish-lavender skin so pale it was almost white, messy and ragged blonde hair that cascaded over its head like a matted birds' nest and just barely hid its bloodshot blue eye, and twin bent antenna that limped over its face. It donned a ratty, fuzzy black collar and a torn-up pink and yellow dress paired with equally-worn black gloves and leggings decorated in pink stripes. It heaved heavy breaths as some strange black liquid dripped off of its lengthy fangs, and a bright purple N was branded onto its forehead.

The two of them looked like nothing the Cures had ever seen before, and yet something about them looked scarily familiar…

"Wait…" Star whispered as she stepped back, "It couldn't be…"—Star's vision went blurry as she fixed her eyes on those monsters before her, "… Kappard? Tenjou? Aiwan?"

"So you recognize them after all," Garuogre said as he stepped out in front of Darknest.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?!" Star pushed forward and glared down Garuogre, "They're monsters!"

"This is merely the final fruit of Lord Darknest's blessing!" Garuogre stretched his muscular arms to the heavens, "They've not only been granted immense power, but have been fed an entire planet's imagination! They're completely unstoppable!"

Garuogre let his arms fall back to his side, then held a hand out towards the cures.

"And if you doubt this still, then I shall prove it to you!" Garuogre pointed a finger at the cures, "ATTACK!"

With loud, distorted cries the three monsters that had once been the Notraiders' generals launched themselves at the Cures!

The cures themselves just narrowly dodged as they collectively slammed their fists into the ground, then looked back at each other and nodded. The whole group split in fragments as they ran off towards their monstrous foes—Star and Milky towards Kappard, Soleil and Selene towards Tenjou, and Cosmo towards Aiwan.

"ARIES STAR PUNCH!" Star proclaimed as she jumped up, crafted a gigantic red star and shot it at Kappard.

"GEMINI MILKY SHOCK!" Milky exclaimed as she joined Star, then shot out twin lightning bolts from her antenna.

The twin bolts entwined around Star's star and crashed into the mutated Kappard… But it was no use! Kappard just as easily tossed it back at Star and Milky! It happened so quick that they couldn't even process what had just happened, they could only watch with wide eyes as their combined attack smashed into them and sent them crashing back onto the hard grounds of their battlefield! They both winced as they pulled themselves off the ground and looked up, then rolled out of the way as a gigantic blade crashed down on the area where they once laid!

Star panted heavily as she held her arm, dashed towards Kappard and slammed a punch into his leg.

"YEOWCH!" Star exclaimed as she reeled back and rubbed her hand, which was now red with pain.

As she tended to her injured hand, however, Star didn't notice Kappard creep up on her and raise his blade arm—good thing Milky did! Before Kappard could even lay down his blade, a gigantic lightning bolt shot from where Milky stood and pushed him back a few steps.

"That, that has to wear him down a little, right-lun?" Milky asked, her breath shallow and tired.

But unfortunately for Milky, it didn't. Kappard just shook his armored head and jumped back into the heat of battle!

"No way!" Star shouted, before she and Milky screamed and dodged another blow from Kappard's blades once more.

Soleil and Selene, meanwhile, were just as busy as they faced down the gigantic Notrei that was once Tenjou.

"SOLEIL SHOOT!" Soleil exclaimed as she kicked out a gigantic rain of fireballs that brought about a shower of flames onto Tenjou.

Despite the sheer intensity of their fire, however, they were no match for the raw power of Tenjou's fan! Tenjou only held up her fan and watched as the fireballs extinguished like small, weak embers the moment they made contact!

"SELENE ARROW!" Selene proclaimed as she jumped up and released the string of a magical bow, which in turn sent down a rain of magical arrows right at Tenjou. There were so many, surely it wouldn't be as easy to deflect, right?

Wrong. With a flap of her fan, Tenjou cast a mighty gust that blew all the arrows back into the skies!

"HUH?!" Soleil and Selene exclaimed in unison, both stopped from shock for mere moments.

And those mere moments were just what Tenjou needed. As they stared dumbfounded, Tenjou waved her fan and created a mighty gust that blew Soleil and Selene straight across the field!

While they crashed into a withered tree trunk and groaned, a bright blue blur jumped across and snatched the Virgo Princess Pen out of Soleil's pen carrier.

"I'll be taking this!" Cosmo proclaimed as she loaded the Virgo Princess Pen into the Rainbow Perfume and spun its crank.

"PRECURE!" Cosmo proclaimed as she stretched out her arms and wrapped her finger around the trigger, her sights set on Aiwan, "RAINBOW SPLASH!"

With a simple pull of the trigger, a burst of rainbow light rocketed out from the Rainbow Perfume's spout and slammed straight into Aiwan, which in turn enveloped her in a flash of blazing light… But when the light faded, Aiwan still stood as strong as ever!

"Meow come on!" Cosmo grunted as she yanked out the Virgo Pen and tossed it back to Soleil, "Alright, try this on for size!"

Cosmo squeezed the Rainbow Perfume's trigger once more and winced.

"PRECURE!" Cosmo let go of the trigger, "COSMO SHINING!"

This time a bright blue light shot out from the Perfume and enveloped Aiwan, but just like the last it was no use! Aiwan only released the attack with a shake of her head, then frowned like someone who was trying to chase off an annoying insect before she continued on her rampage.

"Geez." Cosmo's grimace grew as she rested the Rainbow Perfume at her side, "He sure wasn't kittin' when he said they were powerfu—AAH!"

With a loud growl, Aiwan slammed her fists into the ground and flung Cosmo into the air! Before Cosmo could even retaliate, Aiwan roared and punched Cosmo right into the same dead tree that Soleil and Selene rested under and completely bowled them all over!

"Soleil, Selene, Cosmo!" Star and Milky called as they ran to the trio's side and helped them back to their feet, "Any luck?"

"See for mewrself," Cosmo winced as she nudged them over to where Tenjou and Aiwarn still stood strong, "Not a single thing landed!"

"We'll need something way more powerful than these," Soleil winced as she reached for her Star Color Pendant, "Do you think—"

"EVERYONE-FUWA!"

All five pairs of eyes widened as a bright light manifested behind them, before it slowly shaped into the shape of… Fuwa?! Yes, it was! The light soon vanished and unveiled Fuwa, with Prunce wrapped around her back as if he was trying to stop her.

"Fuwa?" Star exclaimed as she embraced Fuwa and gently stroked her mane, "What are you doing?"

"I was so worried about you-fuwa," Fuwa sniffled as she hugged Star tight, "So I came to find you-fuwa!"

"I tried to stop her-purunsu…" Prunce lamented as he rubbed the top of his head with one of his tentacles, "But unfortunately…"

"That's alright!" Star exclaimed as she hugged Fuwa one last time, then watched as Fuwa flew back up, "This is perfect, actually!"

"Star, what are you talking about-puru—"

Prunce stopped short as he looked up and saw the monstrous forms of Kappard, Tenjou and Aiwan, then screamed and jumped back.

"If we can perform that attack…" Star suggested as her eyes drifted towards the other four Cures and Fuwa, "Then maybe we might be able to stop them!"—Star held out her hand—"Who's with me?!"

Everybody else only nodded as they placed their hands—or hoof, in Fuwa's case—on Star's, which soon glowed with a bright light.

"Let everyone's feelings become one-fuwa!" Fuwa proclaimed as she lifted up her hooves and summoned a golden ball with an open slot.

"SHINY TWINKLE PEN!" Star exclaimed as she withdrew the pen from her pouch and shoved it right into the ball's pen slot, which turn glowed with an even brighter light than before!

That bright light soon enveloped the cures, until they themselves were no longer visible underneath the bright glow!

Kappard, Tenjou and Aiwan did nothing as they watched this strange, glowing light aside from tilt their head, then with low growls lunged after the Cures—only to be pushed back as the glow morphed into a mighty pillar of shining rainbow!

"LIGHT OF IMAGINATION!" The Cures proclaimed, their five voices and hearts in complete unison, "MAKE US WHO WE WISH TO BE!"

The rainbow light faded after these words were proclaimed, and out from the pillar stepped the Cures… Except their appearances had completely changed! Their outfits had become more complex, elegant, perhaps even regal version of the Cure uniforms they normally donned, and shiny golden crowns decorated with star decals adorned their heads. Their whole bodies glowed with a kind of intense power, as if the light had increased their strength tenfold!

And in front of them was none other than Fuwa, who also glowed with that same kind of powerful light as she held that golden ball as tight as she could.

"Power of the stars," Fuwa proclaimed as the cures enveloped her and pointed their hands towards her and the ball, "Shine bright-fuwa!"

By just saying this, a gigantic silver star formed in front of the cures, radiant with power and justice and all that was good!

"PRECURE!" The cures proclaimed as one as they flicked their wrists, "STAR TWINKLE IMAGINATION!"

That gigantic silver star rocketed out from the cures and slammed straight into Kappard, Tenjou, and Aiwan with such force that it blew them off their feet and straight into the gigantic ship behind! Finally, something that landed!

The Cures watched with bated breath as the trio was enveloped in a circle of astronomical symbols and rainbow light, their hopes raised for mere seconds… Only to be dashed to pieces as the light faded out just as quickly and revealed that it had done nothing more!

Kappard, Tenjou and Aiwan were still in their monstrous forms, and were no worse for wear than they were before they had been hit!

The Cures stumbled back with wide eyes as their regal wear vanished with a pop and a flash! All that was left was their normal Cure uniforms…

"No way…" Star gasped as her pupils began to dilate, "Star Twinkle Imagination didn't work?"

"What else can we do-lun?" Milky breathed, before she winced and fell to her knees!

"Milky!" Star knelt down and leaned Milky on her shoulder, then watched as the others all fell to their feet and grunted. That attack must have taken a lot out of them!

As they all moaned and struggled to stand, Darknest made a mechanic, warped cackle of sheer pride.

"It's no use, Precure!" Darknest proclaimed, "You're a hundred years too early to even hope for a win against me!"

Darknest then stepped forward and gestured towards Fuwa, who whimpered and hid behind Star's back.

"Hand over the great power now!"

"N… Never…" Star winced as she held up her head and glared down Darknest, "As long as I stand… I'll protect Fuwa! I'll protect my home and all my friends! And I won't let you stop me!"

"Suit yourself." Darknest drew back his hand, then glared down Kappard, Tenjou, and Aiwan.

"MINIONS! RID US OF THESE PESTS!"

Hearts stopped for moments as Kappard, Tenjou and Aiwan growled and stepped towards the Cures, then completely stopped. All waited with anticipation as the trio just stood there… Then Kappard, Tenjou and Aiwan all trembled as they reeled back and cried in pain! Even though they looked so grievous, even though they were extremely dangerous and fully capable of killing with a single blow, one could easily tell they were in serious pain. In fact, they were so pained, they couldn't even walk…

"What are you waiting for?!" Darknest demanded as he glared them down, "FINISH THEM OFF ALREADY!"

But, they did not. All they could do was scream and cry out in agony while everybody else watched with a cacophony of emotions—frustration and confusion from Darknest and Garuogre, surprise from the surrounding Notreis, concern from the cures.

"What's happening to them?" Selene asked as she pulled herself up and gazed at Kappard, Tenjou and Aiwan before her eyes glazed over their chest, "Wait a second…"—Selene waved the other Cures over—"Everyone, look!"

The other cures followed Selene's instructions and peered over at them. Though they hadn't noticed it before, Kappard, Tenjou and Aiwan all had black hearts-shaped compartments on their chests, just like those Notriggers they found all that time ago. And within those components… Rested their true selves, who screamed and writhed in agony as they were surrounded in a murky black and green glow!

"So their true selves are still in there after all!" Soleil exclaimed as she jumped to her feet

"It's just like that time!" Cosmo realized as she stood up, then turned around to face the other Cures.

"We have to save them!" Star proclaimed as she rested a fist against her chest, "But how… Our attacks are too weak to purify them…"

Milky hummed, then looked back at the black heart compartments.

"It's a stretch-lun," Milky said as she brushed a hand against her chin, "But maybe, we could reach inside those compartments and pull them out-lun?"

The other Cures gave Milky contemplating looks and hums.

"Well, it's worth a shot," Cosmo said with a shrug, "It's not like we have any meowther options."

"It's settled, then!" Star proclaimed as she pounded her fist against her hand, then gazed over the team.

"Milky and I will take Kappard." Star gestured towards Milky, but her eyes glazed over Soleil and Selene instead, "Soleil, Selene, you take Tenjou!"

"Got it!" Soleil and Selene said in unison as they nodded.

"Prunce, Cosmo, stay here and keep Fuwa safe."

"Understood!" Cosmo and Prunce replied as they threw their bodies in front of Fuwa's.

"Now…" Star made a smile as she took Milky's hand, "LET'S GO, TEAM!"

With resounding, confident cries the teams split once more, but this time with a renewed spring in their step! Their mission was decided, and by the Star Princesses, they were gonna see it through no matter what!

"HEY, KAPPARD!" Star shouted at the top of her lungs as she and Milky dashed towards Kappard, "OVER HERE!"

Kappard's bloodshot, blank eyes trailed down to Star and Milky, then he groaned and lunged forward. With a slight raise of his arm he prepared to attack, but before he could even raise his blade he was hit with a gigantic bolt of lightning, courtesy of Cure Milky!

The shock from the lightning's attack—both physical and mental—forced him to stumble back, his heart completely open!

"Now's our chance-lun!" Milky said as she grabbed Star's hand once more.

The two of them leaped in unison, their path set for the heart-shaped component on Kappard's torso… Then in moments they slid through the heart and completely disappeared!

Soleil and Selene both watched with bated breath as Star and Milky vanished, then turned to each other.

"Looks like we're up, Selene," Soleil said as she looked over at Tenjou, "Let's—"

Before Soleil could say a word more, however, a gigantic gust blew her and Selene off their feet! The two of them grunted as they crashed onto the ground, then just barely pulled themselves up to see Tenjou as she waved her fan at them. Clearly, her strength was finally regained! Soleil tried to take a step forward, but it was no use. The wind was so strong, it took all her strength just to keep her footing! Her teeth gritted, she reached towards her pouch and fumbled with its flap, as if maybe attacking Tenjou would keep the winds down.

But, before she could open it, a bright flash of light smacked straight into Tenjou and threw her off her guard! A cursory look to the side only revealed Cosmo, who held the Rainbow Perfume firm in her grasp as she stared at Soleil and Selene.

"Get in there!" Cosmo shouted as she looked back at Tenjou!

"Thanks, Cosmo!" Soleil shouted back as she and Selene looked at each other.

The two of them ran in unison towards Tenjou, then with a mighty leap they launched themselves off the ground and onto Tenjou's shoulder!

Tenjou made a confused groan, then frantically spun around as she tried to locate them... But Soleil and Selene were one step ahead! They carefully climbed down her shoulder and onto her suit, then let go and slid straight down into her heart compartment! With a ripple of the compartment, they were absorbed inside and vanished into nothing!

As Kappard and Tenjou took in the Precure, they both stumbled around for a few moments… Then fell on their backs, now completely unconscious.

"WHAT?!" Garuogre exclaimed as he ran to examine them, only to be knocked unconscious himself by a shot of light from the Rainbow Perfume.

Cosmo grunted as she stood between Garuogre and the unconscious Kappard and Tenjou, but bit her lip just slightly as she looked back behind her.

"Hopefully they'll get out soon…" Cosmo whispered as she watched their heart compartments ripple with purple light, "You can do this, girls."


	2. Chapter 2

Hikaru groaned as she stirred her eyes open, her whole body draped in sweltering, exhausting, absolutely _unbearable _heat. It was kinda toasty back on that battlefield, true, but it wasn't this bad… Did somebody turn on the heater while she wasn't looking?

"Where… Are we-lun?" Lala asked.

Hikaru opened her eyes at last, and was greeted by… A dry, deserted wasteland, true, but it was nothing like the battlefield she had been fighting on! It was all cracked earth and scifi-looking buildings with rotted material and cracked windows… How did she get here? The last she remembered, she was on that battlefield, and had tried to reach out to Kappard before Darknest could…

"OYO?!" Lala exclaimed as she looked down at herself, "Why am I not transformed-lun?!"

Hikaru gasped as she looked at Lala, who sure enough, was no longer Cure Milky—she was dressed in her civilian garb and had no traces of that same magical aura Hikaru had always noted when they transformed. Thankfully, Lala's pendant still rested content around her neck, so it being taken was out of the question… But still, what happened that made her drop her transformation?

Wait, was Hikaru herself still transformed? Hikaru looked down at herself and found that no, she was not—she still wore her favorite outfit rather than her Cure Star getup. But then again, the fact that she wasn't compulsively referring to herself as Cure Star was probably a big hint in itself. Either way, though, she wasn't in her Cure form any longer, even though her pendant still hung from her neck… What could have caused this?

"AI!" Lala bopped the heart-shaped button on her glove with her feeler, "Can you tell us where we are-lun?"

Lala waited for a few key moments… But got no response, as only static emitted from the speaker on her glove.

"Oyo."

Hikaru and Lala sighed in unison as they sat down on the hard, cracked rocky ground. So much for that option.

"Think we should check this place out?" Hikaru asked as she turned to look at Lala.

"I suppose so," Lala said as she looked out towards the rotted buildings, "It doesn't look like we have any other options-lun."

So, despite the oppressive heat, they both pulled themselves off the ground and walked into the ruined, wayward town that had found themselves in. All around them, there seemed to be no signs of life—just more buildings, more broken windows, more dry, cracked earth wherever you looked… Just the sight of it all made Hikaru's throat dry, to be honest.

"That's strange-lun," Lala remarked as she investigated what looked to be some kind of space storage shed.

"What's strange?" Hikaru asked as she spun around and skipped over to Lala's side.

"I've seen this material plenty of times during my garbage inspections-lun." Lala brushed a finger against the shed's surface, then cleaned off the dust it left on her finger, "It's usually only used for places with lots of water or very humid climates, like bogs and marshes, or tropical areas—no wonder it's in such bad shape-lun."

Lala made a grimace as she turned around and looked at the still-empty streets.

"Still no signs of others, though-lun." Electricity crackled at the tips of Lala's feelers like nervous static, "I hope we didn't end up on a ghost planet-lun."

"Ghost planets?" Hikaru's eyes widened with sparkling glee, "You mean, like, Halloween-y planets filled with ghosts? That's so TWINCOOL!"

"Not that kind of ghost, Hikaru-lun." Lala heaved a sigh and a worn chuckle, "Ghost planets are like ghost towns on Earth—they're completely abandoned and void of life-lun."

"Aww, meeting a ghost sounded like fun…" Hikaru huffed, then turned around and frowned as she placed a hand over her eyes, "I dunno about abandoned, though—that town up ahead seems pretty busy!"

"What did you just say-lun!?" Lala whipped around with wide eyes, her gaze now fixed on where Hikaru was looking.

There, ahead of them, the buildings became more lined and condensed, almost like an actual town or shopping district. It kind of reminded Hikaru a bit of the shopping district back in Mihoshi, but unlike that one this one looked just as grim and lifeless as its surroundings.

But more importantly, there were people! Well, alien people, but nonetheless people—surely _somebody _there could tell them where they were!

"Come on, Lala!" Hikaru exclaimed as she took a step forward, "Maybe we can ask one of these guys!"

"I don't know, Hikaru—I don't really like the looks of…" Lala had started to say, but her words were background noise in Hikaru's head as she rushed along the pathway.

Hikaru's eyes first drifted to an alien that looked like a giant, walking flower, though their whole body looked sad and withered.

"Excuse me!" Hikaru exclaimed as she waved a hand in front of the flower alien, "Could you tell me where—"

Before Hikaru could even finish, whoever, the alien just walked past her like she was invisible! Tch, how rude. Hikaru frowned a bit, then popped over to a dried-out turtle alien.

"I kinda got stranded on this planet, could you tell me—" Hikaru stopped short as the turtle alien passed her by without even a glance taken.

"Hello! I'm not from here!" Hikaru bounced over towards a skinny alien that looked like a green-skinned humanoid, "Could you maybe—"—Hikaru's frown turned deeper as the alien scurried off—"… Tell me what this planet is called?"

"Hikaru!" Lala called as she rushed up to Hikaru's side and panted, "Any luck-lun?"

"'Fraid not." Hikaru shook her head, "Nobody around here would even look at me! It's like I'm invisible to them!"

Hikaru heaved a groan as she sat down on the hot, cracked earth. Everything around her was so, _so _hot and so, _so _dry… Between the heat and her growing thirst, Hikaru wasn't sure if she could take much of this any longer! And a cursory glance to her left showed that Lala felt similar feelings, for Lala too had sat down on the ground and groaned.

_So I'm stuck on a planet I don't know the name of, I'm super tired and thirsty, and none of the locals will even say hello, _Hikaru thought as she shot a tired look to her right, _Who would've thought it'd end up like this?_

Hikaru made a low grumble as she peered over to an alleyway, where… Hey, was that a person? Sure enough, what seemed like the figure of a tall person lurched in the alleyways, their gaze focused on Hikaru and Lala! However, they must have quickly picked up that Hikaru had seem them, before they turned around and made headway shortly afterwards.

"Hey, wait!" Hikaru exclaimed as she bounced to her feet and chased after the person, her heat exhaustion now forgotten, "Who are you?"

Hikaru bounded across the broken earth and straight into the alleyways without even a second of thought taken. All she cared about right now, all she could focus on was that strange person… After all, it seemed like they were the only person to acknowledge her and Lala's existence, so surely they could help her!  
But, it seemed as if that person didn't want any kind of attention—the further Hikaru pursued them, the further they ran, and they sure were fast to boot! Good thing Hikaru was pretty fast too!

As she continued her pursuit down another long strip of alleyway, Hikaru looked ahead and saw the halls of the alley shift into a corner turn. She immediately went to turn around… But she was running so fast, she couldn't stop herself! Before she knew it, she and that person had slammed straight into the alley's walls, pained groans echoed from both their bodies.

"Ughhh," Hikaru groaned as she shook her head, "Whoops, sorry about that! Didn't mean to—"

Hikaru gasped and stopped herself as she finally got a good look at this mystery person—no, it couldn't be…

"KAPPA—" Before Hikaru could finish, something covered her mouth and pulled her back.

"Hikaru, what are you doing-lun?" Lala asked, her voice diminished to a hush whisper so as to not attract the stranger's attention, "Who is that person-lun?"

"You're not gonna believe this, Lala," Hikaru whispered back as she pried Lala's hand off of her mouth, "But I think it's Kappard!"

"KAPPARD!?" Lala's stumbled back in surprise, then she took a quick glance back at the mystery person—as did Hikaru.

It was true, this strange alien did look a whole lot like Kappard—same minty greenish-blue skin, same facial markings, same stringy chartreuse hair and head-dish-thingie… But, this person seemed to be in far worse shape than the Kappard Hikaru knew. Their body looked thin and frail, as if they hadn't eaten in weeks or even months, and their wrinkled skin clung to their body to emphasize their almost ghastly, skeletal looks. They didn't wear the same fancy outfit that Kappard usually donned, either! All they wore was something that looked vaguely like a wetsuit, but it was awfully stretched out and had more holes in it than Swiss cheese. Clearly, they had seen better days. Actually, no—they looked like they hadn't seen a single good day in their life!

"What are you two doing!?" The person demanded, their voice also like Kappard's but much more strained and worn, "Why are you chasing me!?"

"I've got some questions for you too, buddy!" Hikaru exclaimed as she shoved herself in the Kappard lookalike's face, "Who are you? What are you doing? What is this place, anyways?!"

"Oh, I see." The person scoffed and looked aside, "You're just a couple of tourists who don't even know the name of the planet you landed on,"—The person stood up and dusted themself off, no mind paid to Hikaru whatsoever—"This planet is known as Amphicaelia. And those other things are none of your business."

The person then disappeared around the corner.

"Goodbye."

"But wait!" Hikaru tailed the person down the corner and tugged on the sleeve of their wetsuit, "I still have so many things I want to ask you!"

"I told you," the person growled as they yanked their sleeve out of Hikaru's grip and raced off, "GOODBYE!"

"COME BACK!" Hikaru exclaimed as she chased the person down the alleys once more.

"Hikaru, wait-lun!" Lala shouted as she chased after Hikaru, "We don't even really know who that person is-lun!"

Hikaru's pats were heavy as the sun beat down on her shoulders, but she wouldn't let the heat stop her. She had to know now—just who _was _this person? They looked too much like Kappard for it to be a coincidence, but at the same time he didn't look nearly as awful as this person did… Just what had happened?  
This time, the person's run was much slower, which bought Hikaru plenty of time to draw in close. In fact, the closer Hikaru drew, the more it sounded like they were… Panting? As Hikaru finally reached forward and brushed her fingertips against their back, the person collapsed in a shuddering, wheezing heap. They must not have been used to so much running, especially with the awful shape they were in… Hikaru honestly felt really bad about chasing them now.

"Hikaru, there you are-lun!" Lala called as she finally caught up with Hikaru, only for her eyes to gaze over the person, "What happened to them-lun?"

"It's, it's not of your… Your…" The person spat as they held their chest, their wheezing heavier than their entire body probably, "Con… cern…"

The person tried to stand up, but it only lasted for a few moments. After that, they immediately collapsed again!

Hikaru immediately jumped into action and grabbed the person before they hit the ground, then rested their shivering body under a rare shady spot in the alleys. They felt so warm… Something in her gut told her that probably wasn't a good thing.

"Are you alright-lun?" Lala sat next to the person, then dug through her pouch and pulled out a few squishy cosmo gummies, "Here, eat these-lun. They should help you regain your strength-lun."

The person took a few more breaths, then warily glazed over the cosmo gummies in Lala's palms. They hesitated for a few moments, then finally they took the gummies from Lala and ate them in one big gulp.

"… Thank you for the food, I guess." The person stood up, their shuddering no longer present.

"So," Hikaru asked as she stood up herself and dusted off her overalls, "Just who are—"

Hikaru didn't even get to finish her question—the person just dashed off without even looking back!

"Dangit!" Hikaru stomped her foot, then grabbed hold of Lala's hand, "Come on, Lala! We can't let them get away!"

"Hold on, Hikaru-lun," Lala chided as she pulled Hikaru close, "I don't think we should chase them like this-lun,"—Lala looked at the alley's mouth, which revealed open dusty fields beyond their thin passage—"They clearly don't want us following them…"

"But, still!" Determination shimmered in Hikaru's magenta eyes as she tugged on Lala's hand, "We have to figure out what that person's deal is! If that really is Kappard… Then he could give us some answers!"

"Oyo…" Lala shook her head and squeezed Hikaru's hand tight, "Let's be careful about it, then—we can't have them see us-lun."

"Alrighty! Operation stealth mode, go!"

Hikaru dashed out of the alleyways and into the open, then took a glance to the side. Luckily for her, there were a bunch of crates conveniently stacked near to a wall with just enough wiggle room for her and Lala to squeeze behind! So, that's what they did as they sneaked behind the crates and poked their heads over the crates' wooden surface.

"Do you see them?" Hikaru whispered as her eyes glazed from side to side.

"Over there-lun!" Lala whispered back as she pointed to her left.

Hikaru followed Lala's words, and sure enough, not that far from them was that person! Like them he was hidden behind a stack of wooden crates, and held what looked like some kind of weird alien communication device in his bony hands.

"Kappard, coming in," Kappard whispered, his voice barely audible to Hikaru and Lala's ears, "I've got the target in my sights."

"So it is him-lun!" Lala exclaimed as she looked back at Hikaru.

"Target? What's he talking about?" Hikaru asked aloud as she looked across from the crates once more.

In the moments that Hikaru and Lala had looked away, a dude that looked kinda like a gigantic, anthropomorphic fly dressed in a fancy space suit flew across the dusty, fractured earth. They held a communication device up to their… Earhole, Hikaru guessed? With one of their six hands, and in the other they held something that looked like those box remotes with the big buttons Hikaru had seen in cartoons and stuff. Could that have been Kappard's target?

But what was he targeting the person for?

"Understood," Kappard said, his voice hushed to a whisper, "Kappard, heading out."

Hikaru and Lala looked back at Kappard once more as he ended his conversation.

However, Kappard didn't notice them in the slightest—his eyes were trained on that fly alien. His mouth twisted into a scowl, he dug into the pockets of his ratty-looking wetsuit and withdrew something that looked like a futuristic pistol—oh no.

In that very moment, Hikaru finally realized what Kappard was doing all this time.

"STOP!" Hikaru exclaimed as she sprinted forward and tackled Kappard before he could even touch the trigger.

In a moment they both crashed onto the earth, while the pistol flew out of Kappard's grasp and spun around on the ground.

"YOU AGAIN! I TOLD YOU NOT TO FOLLOW ME!" Kappard exclaimed, his voice full of rage as he tried to push Hikaru off of him, "LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!"

"What I made you do?!" Hikaru demanded as she gestured towards the fly alien, "Look what you were gonna do! You were gonna kill that guy if I hadn't stopped you! What are you doing?!"

"It's none of your concern!" Kappard pushed Hikaru to the side and scrambled after the pistol, "I'm just doing what my client wants!"

"Client?" Hikaru regained her bearings and chased after Kappard, "What client? Who are you talking about?!"

"Yeah-lun!" Lala exclaimed as she snagged the pistol off the ground and glared down Kappard, "We want some answers-lun!"

Kappard growled as he lunged forward and tried to snag the pistol back from Lala, but Lala quickly dodged in response! As Lala watched him stumble back onto the ground, Kappard groaned and pulled himself up, his mouth open as if to insult them again…

But before he could even say a word, the ground started shaking something awful! Hikaru, Lala and Kappard all cried out in shock as the trembles made them fall to their feet, the pistol completely forgotten as it flew out of Lala's grasp and into the unknown!

"An earthquake-lun!?" Lala exclaimed as she struggled to get back on her feet

"No… NO…" Kappard whimpered as he stared into the skies, "NOT THIS!"

"Huh?" Hikaru uttered as she watched Kappard stare dumbstruck, then looked up at the skies herself and gasped!

Churned in the cloudless skies were gigantic red dots that soon formed into lasers! These gigantic lasers shot down into the ground and cracked it further than ever before! Entire chunks of the ground split off and sank into the earth, buildings toppled like they were little more than sandcastles… It was like the world was coming to an end!

Hikaru tried to pull herself back to her feet and get out, but she couldn't, for the quakes were still too strong! As she tried and failed to get up for the fifth time, something slid over to her feet. It was that same box remote that the fly person had held earlier… Except the button had been pressed.

Hikaru frowned as she picked up the remote and examined it, only for the blare of a loud siren to pull from her thoughts.

"ATTENTION, REMAINING INHABITANTS OF AMPHICAELIA!" Blared a robotic voice, "THIS PLANET IS UNDER TOTAL ANNIHILATION! PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE EVACUATION AREA IN A CALM AND ORDERLY MANNER!"

"TOTAL ANNIHILATION!?" Hikaru and Lala repeated at the top of their lungs.

"We're gotta get out of here!" Hikaru exclaimed as she looked Lala in the face.

"Lun!" Lala replied.

Hikaru patted down her pockets as she went to find her Star Color Pen—now was definitely the time for Precure superspeed after all. Strange, it didn't seem like it was in her pockets where she usually kept it. Had she dropped it while chasing Kappard?

"OYO!?"

"Lala, what's wrong?" Hikaru asked as she turned to a frantic Lala.

"My Star Color Pen…" Lala looked down at her bare hands, "IT'S GONE-LUN!"

Crap, so that meant they were both unable to transform! They both frantically looked at each other, before the rumble of the earth below reminded them that now was not the time to dawdle. Looks like they'd have to do things the old-fashioned way!

As Hikaru set her sights on the road ahead, Lala ran over to Kappard and heaved him off the ground.

"What are you doing?!" Kappard demanded as he looked up at Lala.

"Getting us out of here-lun!" Lala looked up at Kappard as he finally stood on his own two feet, "Do you know where the evacuation area is-lun?"

"It shouldn't be that far from here." Kappard winced as he pointed a finger towards the distance.

With shared nods, Hikaru and Lala both dashed across the dusty, shattered ground—it was a good thing those quakes had calmed down, because she was already struggling to keep up her energy in all this heat! The only sounds she heard were that of their footsteps and heavy panting as they ran, all paired with the ringing from the sirens…

Then soon, their trio of footsteps was joined by what sounded like… A stampede? Hikaru winced as she looked back, though the massive dust clouds that had been kicked up made it hard for her to see at first. However, the panicked shouts that echoed from behind made it more than clear what that stampede was—inhabitants of this planet, all just as frantic to escape as they were!

In moments the crowd rushed past then in what could best be described as a gigantic blur! Hikaru herself could barely stay on her feet as all sorts of aliens pushed and shoved their way past her, her vision of the way ahead blocked by their masses.

"Lala! Kappard!" Hikaru called, though her voice was barely audible over the sounds of pounding footsteps and frantic screaming, "Where are you!?"

"Over here-lun!" Lala's voice exclaimed at a volume that just barely reached Hikaru's ears.

But, actions did speak louder than words, and this time that was particularly true! Before Hikaru could even see her, Lala had grabbed her hand and yoinked her back to the outside's safety, well out of the crowd's chaotic stupor. Hikaru took a breath, then looked up to be greeted by the relieving sight of Lala's smiling face and an exhausted-looking Kappard by her side.

All were silent as the crowd finally ran out of view, then Kappard lurched forward for a few steps. Though his balance was shaky, he still clearly wasn't willing to give up quite yet. So, he leaned forward and tried to run behind the crowds… But instead, he collapsed to his knees and shuddered!

As he shook and held what Hikaru guessed was his heart, Hikaru looked at Lala, then both nodded in unison. The two of them then walked over to Kappard, weaved themselves under his arms and lifted him back to his feet!

"Come on!" Hikaru exclaimed, "We've gotta get there before all the ships leave!"

And so, they all ran forwards once more—but Hikaru had to admit, for the shape he was in Kappard sure was heavy! Even with Lala helping her it was a struggle to pull him across the shaky grounds, their combined weight a drag on her speed as she was forward to speed-walk across the plains.

Right as Hikaru stopped to catch her breath, she heard a screech from above and looked up…. Then screamed as a gigantic laser crashed down just inches away from her!  
In response, even more lasers rained down from the sky and created quakes so harsh it sent all three of them flying into the sky! The blend of surprise and tremor strength was so great, it was all they could do the scream as they were tossed like rubber balls!

As the quakes began to die once more, Kappard was fortunate enough to crash down on a sturdy-looking ledge, but Lala and Hikaru were less lucky—Lala has crashed down near a newly-formed abyss and was just barely able to hang onto its edge, while Hikaru clung to Lala's leg like her life depended on it…

Which it kinda did, to be honest.

Hikaru winced as she squeezed Lala's leg, while Lala struggled to pull herself back onto solid ground. Though she was trying her best, their combined weight was obviously far too heavy for her to carry, even with all the strength she accumulated from being a space garbagewoman.

"Oyo!" Lala exclaimed as her hand slipped from the rocky earth.

Tiny pebbles and sediment snapped off from the cliffs as Lala tried to climb off and soared down into the abyss, something Hikaru took immediate notice of as she squeezed Lala's leg even tighter. Hopefully she wouldn't make Lala's leg go numb with how much she was squeezing…

Before she could even think it further, however, Hikaru felt the wind in her hair as something yanked them both up and pulled them onto solid ground! Hikaru's eyebrow twitched as she shook her head and looked up.

There, she saw Kappard look down on her with wary eyes.

"Kappard…" Hikaru said as her eyes sparkled with stunned awe, "You saved us!"—Hikaru then leaned forward and hugged Kappard tight—"Thank you so much!"

"That doesn't matter right now," Kappard replied as he tried to pry Hikaru off of him, "I—"

Kappard stopped short as they all heard an intense whooshing noise… Like the sound of a rocket's engine starting! They all peered to the skies… And found that there, tens of hundreds of rockets decorated the otherwise-blank skies!

"They're already leaving," Lala exclaimed as she watched the rockets disappear into the vast skies, "We need to hurry-lun!"

This new tension amplified the trio's speed as they ran ahead and saw something that looked vaguely like a gigantic building… That had to be it! As they ran ahead, the station came closer and closer into view, but as they drew closer it became apparent that all the rockets had left already.

"No way-lun…" Lala whispered as she tugged on her dress.

"I was too late…" Kappard whimpered as his hands began to shake.

"Wait a second!" Hikaru exclaimed as she pointed towards the far right, "That one hasn't left yet, there might still be time!"

The trio pushed themselves towards the rocket Hikaru had pointed out… But before they could reach it, several other passengers boarded and the door slowly drew to a close! Despite their hard work, their attempts to escape had been for naught.

By the time they had reached the rocket, it had already flown away into the stratosphere, never to be seen again.

"It's over…" Kappard whimpered as his lip quivered.

"No it isn't! I'm sure there's another way to get out of here!" Hikaru proclaimed as she turned back to Lala, "Lala, see if you can get in touch with the AI again! Maybe we can get our rocket here!"

Lala winced as she tapped her glove button… But there was no response yet again—all that could be heard was sharp static.

"Alright, that didn't work…" Hikaru's voice turned more concerned, "But maybe there's another ship somewhere around here! We've just gotta—"—Hikaru slipped and fell on her rear,—"OOF!"

Hikaru groaned, then fell further below as the quakes grew even more intense! The whole planet seemed like it was splitting apart… Gigantic chunks of the ground fragmented and drifted away like nothing, which definitely made it a lot harder to keep seated.

With a scream, Hikaru slid down then just barely caught herself on the ledge and tried to pull herself up.

"No, this can't possibly be it…" Kappard croaked as he fell to his knees and shuddered, "I don't want to die, not now, not like this!"

"Kappard!" Hikaru called as she reached a hand towards Kappard.

Before she could even brush her fingers against him, however, the tight grip she held on the ledge slipped and she plummeted into the abyss with a scream!

"HIKARU!" Lala screamed as she reached out for Hikaru, only for her to lose her grip and fall as well!

The two of them spoke no more—they could only scream in horror as their eyes fixed on Kappard while everything around began to fade into one fuzzy blob…

§

Hikaru could barely comprehend what had just happened as the world around her faded to white nothingness. That worn, old, dry planet had completely disappeared… All that was left was her, Lala and Kappard, the three of them faced against each other in a really awkward silence that nobody seemed to be quite ready to break.

"Kappard…" Hikaru said at last with a gulp, "Were those… Your memories?"

"What do you think?" Kappard scoffed, his grip on his lance tight and sweaty, "You saw them with your own two eyes, after all."

Hikaru bit her lip, oddly stunned into silence for once. Well, that answered one question, but quite a few more remained. Was that what he meant when he said that his planet was taken from him? What had driven him to such a way of living?

"Kappard…" Hikaru's head spun with confusion, but she couldn't just stand there and hesitate—she had to get her answers now, "What happened to your home planet?"

"I'll tell you what happened!" Kappard growled, his mouth drawn into a fanged scowl that radiated with pure pain and anguish, "My home planet was beautiful once. It was a utopia, where all kinds of species could live in harmony… But then…"—Kappard shuddered, and for a moment one could've sworn that tears had formed in his eyes—"Then… _They _came."

"They?" Lala repeated, "Who are they-lun?"

"Aliens from another planet far away from our own came here in search of our resources. We welcomed them like we did any other, but then only trampled all over us! They took all our water for themselves, and made us fight to the end just to get a single drop!"

Kappard gritted his teeth as his grip on his lance turned sweaty and shaky.

"Many of us died from the lack of nourishment, and it was a struggle just living day after day. I had to do whatever I could just to survive, all because these people invaded my planet and drove out the very species born into it!"

Finally, Kappard's lance slipped from his hand and clattered onto the ground with such volume that it made Hikaru and Lala both jump back.

"Then, when they could get no further use from it…" Kappard balled his hands into shaky, sweaty, fists, "They destroyed the planet and killed everyone on it like it was some broken toy to be trashed! I barely managed to escape with my own life!"

Hikaru's lips pursed as she felt a sting of pain in her eyes. As Kappard spoke, she couldn't help but think back to all those conversations she held with him in their past fights… So _that's_ what he meant back then.

"I joined the Notraiders to get back at those people, to get back at the universe that made me suffer so much!" Kappard proclaimed with a voice full of anguish, "Lord Darknest promised me that I could have the entire galaxy in the palm of my hand, and gave me the power to take back what the universe stole from me! All so that I'd never have to suffer that way again!"

Kappard's voice lowered as his eyes fixed on Hikaru and Lala with a venomous stare.

"The likes of you, who had the privilege to come from such cozy, welcoming planets… You could never understand the pain I've gone through!"

"How do you know Darknest would keep his end of the bargain, though-lun?" Lala questioned as she mustered the will to take a step forwards, "Has he ever given you any real proof that he'd honor his promise-lun?"

In response, Kappard only winced and took a step back. Though he spoke no words, it was clear to Hikaru that Lala's question had struck something within his mind.

"Yeah, what Lala said!" Hikaru chimed in with a firm nod, "All this time, Darknest only wanted to destroy things! He tried to knock out the stars' light, and he's trying to destroy our planet now!"

"Hikaru's right-lun!" Lala exclaimed as she tapped her glove button with her feeler.

Thankfully whatever had caused interference with her AI earlier must have lifted, because the moment Lala touched the button it projected a holographic vision of the battlefield Hikaru and Lala had been on moments earlier. Like before, it was all flaming and dry and withered.

Kappard only winced as he stepped back again—something in that picture had struck a chord in him.

"Darknest doesn't care for anything but destruction!" Hikaru exclaimed, her voice draped more in concern than anger, "He doesn't care for you anymore than all those places he's tried to destroy!"

Kappard only stood in place, struck by silence as he trembled. It was a tension-filled stalemate, the entire room filled with anticipation of what he'd say or do next.

"But, what other options are there!?" Kappard shot back at last, "I have no home to return to, no place where I could be accepted with full certainty, nobody to trust… How could you understand anything I've been through!?"

Lala made a soft "Oyo…" as she looked away from Kappard, a look of uncertainty on her face.

The three of them just stood in silence, completely unsure of how to answer Kappard's statement.

"Tch," Kappard scoffed as he turned away, "I figured as much."

However, before he could walk away, Hikaru took a step forward and grabbed him hand. It was cold, and shaky and sweaty and kinda weird to hold—but by no means did Hikaru want to let it go, not just yet.

Kappard let out an utterance of confusion, then turned around and looked Hikaru right in the eye. It was kind of hard to see from a distance, but his eyes… They were filled with such pain and sorrow, the kind that just made you want to hug someone tight and never let go.

"It's true, I may not entirely understand the things you went through…" Hikaru admitted as she squeezed Kappard's hand tight, "But, that doesn't mean I can't imagine the pain they must have caused you! I can see it in your eyes…"—Hikaru's tone turned gentle as she rubbed her thumb against his hand—"You've been hurting like this for a long time, haven't you?"

Kappard didn't answer her—he only looked away.

"But, even so… If you want a new home, you don't have to do all this!" Hikaru made a bright, wide smile as she bounced up and down, "You could come live on Earth, with us!"

"WHAT?!" Kappard's eyes were wide with shock as he looked back at Hikaru. Her proclamation had clearly pulled him out of his misery from the sheer lack of expectancy—better keep the ball rolling!

"Hikaru's right-lun!" Lala added as she stepped closer to them, her hesitation finally dropped, "I wasn't sure about the Earth when I first came to live there, too…"—Lala clasped a hand against her chest—"But everybody there was so friendly, and they all welcome me with open arms-lun… I'm sure they'd do the same for you too!"

"How can you be so optimistic?" Kappard retorted as his voice wavered just slightly, "Those of different species could never truly understand each other. In the end, our differences will only drive us apart!"

"And how are you so sure that'll happen?" Hikaru asked with a wink, then her playful tone became serious as she made a gentle smile, "Sure, we're all really different—heck, even on Earth there's a lot of people who have a lot of big differences, and sometimes we might not understand everything about each other…"—Hikaru bounced one more time, then let go of Kappard's hand and stepped back—"But in the end, that's why we learn more about each other! So we can understand each other better! And that's why we want you to come back with us!"

"… Really?" Kappard whispered as his eyes shone against the liminal white light.

"Mm-hmm!" Hikaru nodded rapidly before she looked up at Kappard, "We want to understand you better, so we can all be friends!"

"Yep!" Lala said as she walked up to Hikaru's side and took hold of Kappard's hand, "So, what do you say-lun?"

Kappard seemed genuinely taken aback as he looked at Hikaru and Lala, the silence only broken by their heartbeats… Then finally, he made what was probably a smile as he gently took back Hikaru's hand and chuckled.

"I suppose I have no other options, then," Kappard relented as he wrapped his hands around Hikaru and Lala's, "Very well… I'll accompany you back to your planet."

"TWINCOOL!" Hikaru exclaimed as she tossed her and Kappard's enjoined hands to the sky, "Come on! I'm sure everyone's waiting for us!"

And with that, hands in hands, Hikaru, Lala and Kappard all held each other close as the world around them faded into bright light…


	3. Chapter 3

Elena gritted her teeth as she fell down and instinctively landed on her feet, while Madoka floated down and fell to her knees. Elena's head spun with some kind of feeling she couldn't quite pin down—adrenaline and worry? Concern? Confusion? She wouldn't know. After all, everything that had happened in the moments prior was all a daze to her head, all melded into one thing that she could barely remember… Did it have something to do with a battle?

But, she didn't pay that much to it—she had better things to worry about at the moment.

"Madoka," Elena said as she knelt down and helped Madoka off of the ground, "Are you alright?"

"Somehow," Madoka replied as she placed a hand over Elena's, "But…"—Madoka's blue eyes glazed over the scenery before them—"How did we get here?"

"Here?" Elena looked away from Madoka and frowned as she examined the place before it.

There before them was some kind of worn town that vaguely resembled those old towns she'd seen in her history textbooks. However, it didn't look nearly as nice as the pictures—the buildings were worn and broken down, the streets were poorly-kept, and all the people around wore ragged clothes as they wandered about in a melancholic haze.

How did they find themselves here?

"… And what happened to our transformations?" Madoka asked as she looked down at herself, "Weren't we Precure before?"

Elena's eyes widened as she looked down at Madoka and then herself. Though her memories were fuzzy, she was certain Madoka was right about them being in transformation beforehand… But sure enough, they had been pulled out of their Precure transformations and were back in their civilians attire.

Despite that, their pendants rested around the necks, discounting any potential of them being stolen… But what could have happened to them to cause such a thing?

"Something's not right," Elena said as she looked up at the dirty town before them, "We need to get out of here."

Madoka nodded as she wrapped her slender hand around Elena's and held it tight.

Elena was a bit hesitant at first, but finally pushed herself to walk through this sullen town's streets. Maybe somebody here could give her directions.

The adults her all looked strangely alien, but also not. They had humanoid appearances, but their skin all came in varying shades of red and pink, and the few glimpses Elena caught of their eyes showed that they were blue with pupils in varying warm colors. Could it be that she ended up on another planet?

But as she walked up to several adults who dragged their feet against the sidewalk and waved, they just walked right past her!

"Hello," Elena said as she tried to catch the attention of another woman that was crossing the street, "Could you—"

Elena stopped as the woman walked on without any kind of mind paid to her.

"Excuse me—" Elena only dropped her hand as yet another weird alien person passed her by.

"This place seems so…" Madoka remarked as she watched children play in the streets with half hearts, "Sad."

Elena nodded in response. Madoka was right—everybody wandered around here with a kind of apathy that made her own spirits dampen. It was like everybody around was so apathetic and felt so hopeless and lost, they couldn't even bring themselves to cry or make any other kind of sound anymore aside from their footsteps.

Well, except for one. As she stood, Elena heard something that vaguely sounded like marching and tilted her head.

"Madoka…" Elena turned to Madoka with an inquisitive frown, "Do you hear that?"

As the marching sound grew more and more intense, Madoka made a firm nod.

"What could it possibly be coming from?…"

Elena and Madoka poked their heads around the corner. The sound was growing closer and closer, and as it did all those around turned their heads… Then screamed and ran!

There, gigantic robot soldiers stomped forward and swept people off the streets! They made no distinction—adult or child, man or woman, poor or poorer… It was all the same to them as they pulled these people away from whatever they were doing and went on their way. It was something out of a nightmare or a horror film—kids who couldn't have been much older than Anna or the twins cried and flailed futilely as the robots held them tight, older people tried to pry younger ones out of the robots' grasp or begged to be taken instead, all while people fled and screamed in pure terror.

It was so terrifying, yet Elena couldn't bring herself to look away as the robots drew closer and closer…

Then something grabbed her and Madoka and pulled them down behind a collection of old barrels!

"What are you two doing?" Demanded a voice from behind, "You're perfect targets standing around like that!"

Elena grunted as she came to her senses, then turned around to find the voice's owner! It was an alien teenager who probably couldn't have been much older than Elena herself, with pale red skin and ratty red hair. They wore some worn, raggedy clothes, but the playful glint in their yellow eyes was as rich as an entire stack of yen! Something about that person seemed kinda familiar, but Elena couldn't possibly pin down what it was…

"What's going on here?!" Madoka asked as she brushed the dirt off of her dress, "Why are they taking all those people away?"

"Don't you know?" The alien teen tilted their head, "It's the draft. They're enlisting people in the military."

"Then why were they taking away children?" Madoka's blue eyes rang with intense concern.

The alien only frowned and stood.

"They don't have a choice—there's not that many adults left here."

Elena and Madoka only sat shocked as the alien stood there in a morbid silence, then pulled them both up and grabbed their hands tight.

"We shouldn't stay here," The alien said as they drew Elena and Madoka further into the alley, "It isn't safe to be out in the open."

Elena and Madoka only nodded, then followed the alien down to a midsection in the alleyway. They watched as the alien knelt down, then pushed a brick on the walls… Which in turn unveiled some kind of passageway!

"After you." The alien gestured towards the passageway with a playful, also quite familiar grin.

Elena and Madoka looked at each other, then shrugged as they crawled into the passageway. Once they were both inside, the alien joined then and closed the passageway back up.

"This planet been at war with some other one with some weird complicated name since before I was born," The alien explained as they all crawled through the cramped, dark passageway, "It's been going on so long, I've stopped caring, to be honest."

"That long, huh?" Elena looked at the alien with weariness in her violet.

"Yeah." The alien looked to the side, "It's gone on so long, most of our people are either dead or missing."

Silence was the only thing heard afterwards as the alien crawled past Elena and Madoka, then pushed open the door ahead.

"Here we are!" The alien proclaimed as they hopped out of the passageway.

Elena and Madoka hopped through the opening, then stood and looked around.

This place looked a bit what you'd expect any ordinary disaster shelter to look like—the walls and floors were made of sturdy, albeit somewhat rusted metal, there were no windows whatsoever and whatever furniture and decoration it had was quite minimal, for all it had was a simple bed and dresser with a few pictures laid on top of the dresser itself. It seemed so simple and sturdy, yet… Kind of empty, too.

Elena's eyes drifted towards the dresser, then out of curiosity she gently lifted a picture off of the surface.

The picture depicted a small, alien child with pale red skin and brighter red hair, surrounded by older-looking aliens who all bore some kind of vague resemblance to the child. They were dressed in worn clothes and the area around was dying, yet they all looked so happy…

"Heh," The alien teen chuckled as they took notice of Elena, "That's a pretty old picture,"—the alien walked to Elena's side and examined it with a kind of wistful sorrow—"Sometimes I forget I even had it."

"What is it?" Elena asked as she looked up at the alien.

"That's my family and me, before they all got drafted." The alien drew a finger over the people depicted, "See, there's my mom, my dad, my uncle… And that kid in the middle is… Me, Tenjou."

"TENJOU?" Elena and Madoka exclaimed at once, their eyes wide as plates.

"… Is something wrong?" Tenjou asked as she placed the photo back on the dresser, a concerned frown on her face.

"Nothing, nothing!" Elena and Madoka both awkwardly waved their hands, then curled together in a corner of the shelter.

As she heard that name, Elena's memories had come back to her! The Notraiders had taken over the Earth, and she and all the other cures had gone to confront them only to find those monsters that the commanders had been turned into. She and Selene had went to confront Tenjou… And this happened, Elena guessed.

"That person's Tenjou?" Madoka questioned as she watched Tenjou frown and brush her fingers against the dresser, "I knew I recognized her from somewhere, but, still, I can't believe it—they seem so different…"

"She's definitely a lot nicer, that's for sure," Elena remarked, "But what could've happened to her to make her…"—Elena shook her head—"No, let's not think of that right now."

"Agreed." Madoka nudged closer to Elena, "Whatever we do, we can't let her know that we actually know her! Something tells me that things won't bode well if we do…"

Elena and Madoka looked back once more to see Tenjou sigh as she gazed over the picture, then Elena walked forward and gently took Tenjou's hand.

"I'm sorry," Elena whispered.

Tenjou just shook her head and let go of Elena's hands.

"Those robots are probably gone by now," Tenjou said as she pushed past Elena and jumped back into the passageway, "It should be safe to leave."

Elena and Madoka just awkwardly nodded as they followed Tenjou through the tunnel once more, an awkward silence between the two of them. It felt a lot more uncomfortable being around this girl, knowing that she would eventually become one of their worst enemies…

But it also felt kinda sad, too, knowing everything she had been through. She had lost her family, struggled just to survive in the wartorn land she called her home… Could that have lead Tenjou to the Notraiders' side?

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask," Tenjou said as she crawled through the passageway, "What're you doing here, anyways? You don't look like natives."

Elena and Madoka froze as they cast worried glances at each other.

"Well, um…" Madoka sputtered as she toyed with a strand of her purple hair.

"You're right," Elena said, her voice clear as crystal, "Our rocket broke down, and we got stranded here while trying to find someone to fix it. We were actually looking for a mechanic when we ran into you…"

Tenjou cast a wary glance at Elena, then shrugged and carried on.

Elena breathed a sigh of relief—phew, looks like she bought it. She wasn't sure if she could make up something on the spot, but her acting skills had definitely improved. She'd have to thank Yuni for that when she got back to Earth.

"There aren't many mechanics here," Tenjou said as she pushed open the door back to the alleyway, "But, I do know a place with a couple of rockets,"—Tenjou jumped back out of the passageway—"Truth be told, I was gonna snag one myself and get off this mudball—So I guess I could show you too."

Tenjou watched as Elena and Madoka hopped out of the pathway, then carefully sealed it back up.

"Follow me."

With Tenjou as their guide, Elena and Madoka wandered through the almost labyrinthine arrangement of corridors and alleyways, but their minds were far away from the way they traveled.

"Actually, I forgot about it when we got here," Elena whispered, "But before we entered… Weren't we on that battlefield?"

Madoka's eyes sparkled with urgent realization as she heard Elena's words.

"We were!" Madoka whispered back, "And didn't we try to save Tenjou before that?"

"Yeah." Elena nodded. Then frowned as she placed a hand to her chin, "But how did it take us here… If we could ever figure out where 'here' is…"

"Do you think we were sent back to the past?"

Elena frowned. That did seem like a real possibility… But at the same time, something in her gut wasn't entirely sure that Madoka was correct. Or maybe, she almost hoped that wasn't correct. After all, traveling through space is one thing, but traveling through time?

"It could be…" Elena fiddled with the bow on her headband, "But if we were sent back to the past, then how will we get back home? Even if we go back to the earth, it would be years in the past!

Madoka sighed a concerned sigh. The tired look in her blue eyes showed that she was just as confused as Elena was.

"It could be some kind of illusion," Elena added as she walked down the dusty, dirty pathways, "Maybe it's a trap that they're trying to spring on us!"

"That would explain why we weren't transformed when we arrived!" Madoka clasped a hand, "I wish we knew for certain what it was, though."

"Me too." Elena ran a hand through her hair as she bounced her foot against the floor, which kicked up dust in the process, "Or for that matter, how to get us all out of here!"

Before they could say anything else, however, Elena and Madoka's conversation was interrupted by a scream of utter terror!

"Tenjou?!" The two of them looked ahead, but found that Tenjou was no longer with them. Where'd she go?!

A cursory look ahead found that she had gone somewhere, but was taken somewhere instead! One of those gigantic draft robots they had seen earlier had lifted her up and dragged her away, all while she screamed and thrashed against its grip.

Elena and Madoka looked with wide eyes, then instinctively dug through their pockets for their pens. Surely, now was the time for them to transform… But their pockets were completely empty, no Star Color Pens or any other pens in sight!

"Our pens!" Madoka exclaimed as she looked towards a frantic Elena, "They're gone!"

Rats, looks like they couldn't transform into Precure after all! But, there was no time to sit around and look for their pens—that robot was going way too fast!  
So, Elena dashed forward and kicked up dust as she chased after the robot, while the panting behind her indicated that Madoka was close by.

Though the robot was fast, it wasn't fast enough! Elena had caught up pretty quickly, to the point where Tenjou could clearly see her—at least, judging by the way that Tenjou had stopped fighting and stared, anyways! Elena shouted out as she jumped on the robot and tries to pry its arms open, but it wasn't going very well. The robot was incredibly strong, and without the strength that came with being Cure Soleil, Elena was far from a match—it didn't even notice her as it hovered further along!

With another burst of speed taken, it completely shook Elena off and tossed her to the ground! But, Elena couldn't give up yet! She jumped back onto the robot and continued to pry at its cold, mechanical arms.

"Madoka!" Elena called as she turned around, "Give me a hand here!"

Madoka raced in front of the robot and tried to pull its arms open, but she didn't have much luck, either! Even with their combined strength, the robot was still far too strong for them to face! With a spin of its metal body, it tossed both Elena and Madoka to the ground like they were nothing more than air! As the two of them grunted and staggered back up, they could only watch as the robot hovered under the beam of a giant spaceship.

Elena had wanted to run, she wanted to stop it, but the sheer force made it painful just to even sit up—all she could do was stare helplessly as the robot was whisked into the spaceship and disappeared, with Tenjou still firm in its grasp…

§

Elena felt herself shudder as everything around faded to cold, white nothingness. Even though it was all clearly gone, she still felt as though she was stuck in that very moment, completely helpless and unable to do anything as Tenjou was…

Wait, where was Tenjou? Or Madoka, for that matter? As she looked around, Elena heard a soft groan and looked to her side to see Madoka groan as she stood back up—thank goodness, at least Madoka was still here.

But still…

"My, my, look what we have here," crooned a familiar, overly confident voice as the sound of heels clacking against the floor echoed throughout the area, "A couple of lost little girls with nowhere to go~"

Elena and Madoka's eyes widened as they both turned around to see… None other than Tenjou! She still stood confident as ever, a complete opposite from the scared teenager they had seen moments earlier. Her fan was clasped tight with one hand, while the other was rested against her hip as she gave the two of them an almost intrigued stare.

"You seem awfully troubled." Tenjou's bright, yellow lips drew back into something that wasn't quite a smile, but not quite a frown either, "Could it be that you saw something you shouldn't have?"

"Tenjou…" Elena said at last, not willing to let these questions remain unanswered even longer, "Was that person… You?"

Tenjou's not-smile, not-frown became a full frown at last. It looked like she knew what Elena was talking about… And she wasn't happy about it. Without a single word spoken, Tenjou gave her answer in the form of a hesitant nod. For once, that almost intimidating level of confidence she usually held had melted away into something more solemn and full of regret, as if she almost didn't want to admit that was once her.

"Then," Madoka whispered, before she cleared her throat and raised her voice, "What happened to you?"

"See for yourself," Tenjou replied, her voice cold and vaguely pained as she lifted her fan.

Elena and Madoka reeled back as if they expected an attack, only to hear a sound akin to that of a television set being turned on and looked behind. There, they saw a fuzzy screen manifest out of nowhere, to depict…

The same younger Tenjou they had accompanied just moments earlier! She was dressed in some kind of futuristic, all-black military uniform, and had a terrified look on her face as she held a pistol in trembling hands.

"After that day, I was forced into doing what every soldier in our armed forces did." Tenjou watched as even more memory screen popped up like rabbits, "I learned the techniques, fought the battles, rose the ranks…"

As Tenjou spoke, Elena's eyes glanced over the screens with a bit of worry. Over time, the Tenjou of the past slowly grew from terrified to completely numb as she trained and fought… As if the constant battles Tenjou saw completely changed her. Soon, these memories screens grew more intense. Fierce battles raged on, all with Tenjou at the forefront as she battled further and conquered more. It was so chilling to watch, Elena couldn't even bare the look… Yet at the same time, something in her couldn't bring herself to turn away.

"But ultimately." Tenjou scowled as the memory screens all vanished, "It was all for nothing!"

One gigantic memory screen that was about the size of a movie theater's popped up, then slowly flickered to life. Its fuzzy screen depicted a scene of a gigantic ship with a laser cannon at its front, imposed over a worn-looking planet. The cannon itself was lit like a firework and clearly ready to shoot at any moment—and it did.

The scene quickly changed, to that of the planet's inhabitants screaming and running around like frantic chickens as lasers seared through the planet's crust and broke it to pieces.

"We lost the war," Tenjou exclaimed as she crossed her arms, "And the victor took all."

Of all the aliens that scattered about, the screen zoomed in on one—Tenjou herself! It didn't seem like this memory was that far off from the present, judging by her appearance. She couldn't have been much younger than she was in the present, going by her more grown figure and attire, but unlike the Tenjou of the present… She was absolutely terrified as she dodged the lasers and cowered in the alleyways, complete terror in her eyes. Then, the past Tenjou's eyes diverted to what seemed to be a spaceship garage!

"I was able to escape by the skin of my teeth." Tenjou's eyes narrowed as she watched her past self frantically activate a spaceship and fly off in the distance, "But my entire home was gone, as were all my people… I only had my past sins to accompany me."

The past Tenjou's elated smile turned to her prior look of terror once more as she saw her planet blown to bits, with only space garbage and empty space where it once laid. Finally, the memory screen disappeared, and only the liminal white space remained.

"So that's what happened…" Elena whispered.

"That still leaves one question, though," Madoka said as she clutched her skirt, "Why did you join the Notraiders? If you had lost your own planet, they why would you help someone who'd want to destroy others?"

Tenjou's small scowl grew into a snarl as her eyes filled with fury.

"It's because I had no choice—I had no other place I could possibly turn! Nowhere else would accept someone like me!" Tenjou insisted as the grip on her fan tightened, "You couldn't possibly understand any of the lengths I went to, the weight I've had to carry, the things I did just to survive!"—Tenjou let out an angered scowl—"You're far too young and naive."

With a huff, Tenjou turned her back on Elena and Madoka, who only stared at her in some odd mix of overwhelming sympathy and confusion.

Elena couldn't help but feel conflicted, after all that she had seen—Tenjou was right about her not understanding everything that had happened, but the one thing Elena did understand was that she had been dealt such a harsh card in life… And maybe, a part of her couldn't help but wonder if she would've done the same things Tenjou had if she had been in the same position.

But still, that was no excuse to carry along Darknest's plans to conquer the universe—but how could she possibly convey that to Tenjou?

"What, you're still here?" Tenjou spat, her voice like poison, "I thought you would've left already."

"Yes, you're right that I don't entirely understand all this," Madoka replied.

"So why are you still watching me? Aren't you going to just leave me here?" Tenjou made a fake smirk, "Or just take care of things right here and now? Go on, hurry up! Just transform into Precure and finish me off already!"

Tenjou's fake playfulness turned to a more bitter tone as her smirk disappeared.

"I'm sure it's what I deserve."

Madoka opened her mouth as if to say something, but before she did Tenjou cried out in pain and fell to her knees!

"Tenjou!" Elena and Madoka called out as they watched Tenjou grunt in pain and pull herself back up. She was clearly in a great deal of pain, even if she tried to mask it—they had to get her out!

"Come on, we need to leave this place!" Elena insisted as she reached for Tenjou—but Tenjou only slapped her hand away!

"Just leave me be!" Tenjou insisted as she gritted her teeth, "After everything I've done, I couldn't possibly be welcomed anywhere else! I've killed others, I lead hundreds of my people to their deaths, I failed to save my own planet…"

Tenjou shuddered and fell back to her knees.

"I couldn't possibly be deserving of anything good! I'm too far gone to be worthy…"

As Tenjou screamed in pain once more, Elena only bent down to Tenjou's eye level, then made a soft, gentle smile.

"That's not true!" Elena protested, her voice with a gentle yet firm tone, "You weren't born an awful person—you were put into a hard situation and had to make hard decisions because of that. They may not have been good ones…"

Elena gently took Tenjou's hand in her own. Tenjou's hand felt… Rough, and warm and kind of strange to hold, but something about it made Elena feel a bit more at ease.

"But that doesn't mean you have to stay with Darknest and keep following that path." Elena gently rubbed her finger against Tenjou's hand, "It's never too late to make up for your past mistakes and start again."

"But could I really?" Tenjou questioned as she pulled her hand away from Elena, "After all the things I've done? After all the blood I've shed? Could I really change my ways?"

"Nobody is too far gone to change for the better," Madoka refuted as she stepped forward and knelt beside Elena, "As long as they're willing to take the first step!"  
Madoka stood and clasped her hands over her heart.

"I had never thought that I could fight for my own beliefs, or stand up to my father." Madoka shook her head and smiled, "But, Hikaru showed me that I had that power within me all along—I just had to grasp in my own two hands!"—Madoka made a curt nod—"And I sure you could do the same."

Tenjou bit her lip and drew back, reluctant but clearly intrigued by what Elena and Madoka had told her.

"Why are you willing to help me?" Tenjou questioned as she picked up her fan, "I've hurt you and those you care about more than anything, and I've only wished for your defeat…"—Tenjou turned around to face Elena and Madoka, a look of wonder and confusion in her eyes—"But you're so willing to look past all that. Why?"

"Well," Elena chuckled as she stood up and smiled, "The sun shines for everyone, regardless of their past mistakes."

"And the moon does as well," Madoka added as she made a curt nod.

Tenjou stayed awestruck for moments… Then finally, she made a soft chuckle.

"Maybe you're right," Tenjou said at last as she watched Elena hold our her hand—a hand that Tenjou herself gladly took, "Perhaps maybe, I could strike out a better path for myself."

And with that, everything around them faded into smiles and bright light…


	4. Chapter 4

"COSMO SHINING!"

Cosmo's breath was heavy as she spun around, Rainbow Perfume held tight with both hands, and watched as Notreis flew off the battlefield in seconds! She was trying her hardest, but she didn't think she could hold out for much longer—just where were the others? As she just barely dodged another Notrei assault, a giant laser beam shot down from the skies and turned everything around into a bonfire!

Cosmo let out a screech of surprise as she just barely dodged the attack, then looked up to see the Aiwan Notrigger loom over her, its eye bloodshot and its sharp fangs coated in some kind of dark energy. But inside the black, heart-shaped compartment where the Notrigger's source of power laid…

Was none other than Aiwan as she screamed and writhed in pain!

Cosmo's face faltered as she stared dumbstruck at Aiwan—even though she was in the middle of a battle, she couldn't bring herself to turn away. All she could do was stare and watch as the laser drew closer… Wait, what was she doing?! Cosmo leaped out of the way as the Aiwan Notrigger scorched another platoon of Notreis and rolled to safety under a half-broken tree. Her breath heavy, she carefully wrapped her finger on the Rainbow Perfume's trigger as she positioned her crosshairs right around the Notrigger, then…

CRASH!

With a mighty pound, the Notrigger slammed its fist into the ground and sent Cosmo flying! Cosmo squirmed as she struggled to regain her balance, then gasped as the Rainbow Perfume slipped out of her fingers and fell back onto the earth! Before Cosmo could drop back down and retrieve it, however, something grabbed her and squeezed her tight.

"Let me go!" Cosmo demanded as she squirmed against her captor's grasp, then turned around and fell speechless.

She was right in the sights of the Aiwan Notrigger, completely unable to look away or do anything other than stare as the Notrigger's eye glowed redder and redder… As if it was getting ready to fire another laser with Cosmo as its target!

Cosmo wanted to fight back, she really did—but no matter what she did, its grasp on her was too tight to fight! All she could do was watch helplessly as the eye was enveloped in red, then…

"TAURUS STAR PUNCH!"

Before the Notrigger fired, a gigantic star crashed into its side and sent it toppling down! The laser once meant for Cosmo flew into the stratosphere, never to be seen again, while Cosmo herself floated in midair with wide eyes. The whole thing happened so fast, she had to take a moment to process it.

"Cosmo!" Soleil called as she jumped to Cosmo's side and took hold of Cosmo's arm, "Are you alright?"

"Thanks to you," Cosmo replied with a nod.

"We're back!" Star proclaimed as she leaped to Cosmo's other side right as all three of then landed on the charred, wartorn earth, "And that's not all! Look!"

Star pointed her hand towards a ways away, where Milky and Selene tended to… No, it couldn't be! But it was—leaned on their sides were Kappard and Tenjou, now free of Darknest's curse and completely normal.

"You two!" Cosmo exclaimed as they all drew into one big group once more, "You're back!"

Kappard and Tenjou didn't quite address Cosmo, but instead staggered back into a tall stance. They were clearly suffering some after-effects from Darknest's little power surge—it was probably best to leave them alone for now.

"Are you two alright?" Selene asked as she helped a dizzy Tenjou back to her feet.

"We'll be fine," Tenjou winced as she held her head, "Just give us a moment."

"We've got Kappard and Tenjou…" Milky said as she gazed back at Cosmo, then towards the Notrigger, "That just leaves…"

"Aiwan." Cosmo followed Milky's gaze and winced. A part of her felt a pit in her heart opened us as she watched the Notrigger flail and scream about in what seemed like utter pain… She had to do something, fast!

It seemed as if the others had the same idea—once they were certain Kappard and Tenjou could stand on their own two feet, they jumped off and got ready to launch their attacks, the path fixed on the Notrigger.

"SOLEIL," Soleil proclaimed as she leaned her leg back as if she was preparing for a kick, "SHOO—AUGH!"

Before Soleil could even finish, however, the Notrigger had grabbed her leg and tossed her into Selene, who was preparing her own onslaught! The two of them cried out in pain as they slammed into each other and slid across the charred earth.

"Alright, try this on for size!" Star declared as she withdrew the Pisces Princess Pen, "PISCES STAR—"

Star had just as much of a chance as Soleil and Selene did, unfortunately. Before she could even finish her attack, the Notrigger punched her and sent her hurtling into a withered, dead tree!

It then set its sights on Milky and growled as it swatted her away like an annoying fly!

Cosmo only gasped and stared frozen as the other cures continually jumped and failed to attack the Notrigger, while the Notrigger swept them away as if they were nothing! Clearly it was now her turn.

Cosmo dashed over to where the Rainbow Perfume laid on the dirt with the speed of a cheetah, then grabbed it and squeezed the trigger. A blast of light then hurtled straight into the Aiwan Notrigger and sent it stumbling backwards in shock!

"Why won't you let us help you, Aiwan!?" Cosmo demanded, her mouth twisted into a fanged scowl as she glared down the Notrigger… Then her gaze loosened.

The Notrigger almost looked… Kinda sad. It stared at Cosmo with an almost somber look as it hung its head with the regret and sorrow of a scorned child. But, that only lasted for a moment—after that, it scowled once more and roared as it charged after Cosmo!

Cosmo instinctively went to jump out of the way, but before she could Star jumped forward and punched the Notrigger in the side, which in turn caused it to slide down a few feet.

"Are you alright, Cosmo?" Star panted as she looked back at Cosmo.

Cosmo opened her mouth to speak, but before she could a gigantic red laser shot out from above and tossed Star out of the way! Cosmo gasped as she turned around… And just like she suspected, it was the Notrigger once again!

The Notrigger was an angry lion, or maybe more like a tiger in pursuit of its prey as it stampeded after Cosmo! But it was so focused on her, it didn't pay attention to Milky, Soleil, or Selene—who all had their attacks at the ready!

"Cancer Milky Shock!" Milky exclaimed as she shot bolts of lightning from her antenna.

"Virgo Soleil Shoot!" Soleil shouted as she kicked down a fireball branded with an emblem of three pairs of wings in tandem with the lightning.

"Aquarius Selene Arrow!" Selene proclaimed as she shot off a volley of arrows from a magical bow.

This trio of attacks would've probably stopped any normal Notrigger right in its tracks… But this one only tossed them aside and launched the attacks back at their casters, who could only watch in horror as they were hit with a taste of their own medicine!

As Milky, Soleil and Selene all fell to the ground, the Notrigger growled and swiped them away, its sights fixed on Cosmo yet again. But, unfortunately for it, it was far too slow to reach its target!

Cosmo jumped out the way as it slid forwards, then jumped away once more as it turned and ran after her.

_Strange, _Cosmo thought as she dodged the Notrigger yet again, _It's almost like… It's only targeting me?_

"Bakenyan!"

Cosmo's eyes widened as she looked left then right across the battlefield. Strange, she could've sworn she heard someone call for…

"Bakenyan!" The voice cried again.

Cosmo set her gaze on the heart of the Notrigger, where a trembling Aiwan was curled into a ball and shuddering. Could that voice have come from her?

"Bakenyan…" Aiwan whimpered as she glowed with a sickly blackish-green fog, "Why did you leave me?!"

Cosmo's hands went limp as she stared dumbfounded at Aiwan. There was no mistaking it—that had to have been Aiwan's voice calling out for her! But, it didn't sound like the usual vitriol and anger that came when Aiwan spoke of her… It was more like fear, weakness, desperation for someone to come for her. Aiwan was no more than a child in pain who called for the only person she could think to rely on, even though that person had completely left her.

"Girls!" Cosmo called as she watched the other Cures pull themselves up from the ground, "I've got an idea, but I'll need your help!"

"What is it, Cosmo?" Star asked as she ran up to Cosmo, the other three close behind.

"I need you to distract the Notrigger." Cosmo gripped the Rainbow Perfume tight, "So I can go in there and save Aiwan."

"All by yourself?" Selene questioned, a bit of worry in her voice, "Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"Yeah," Star said with a nod, "Maybe one of us should go with you?"

"You have to understand," Cosmo replied, a level of urgency in her voice she hadn't thought would manifest before, "I'm the only one Aiwan will listen too. She's only known you four as enemies, but as for me…"

Before Cosmo could finish her sentence, Star placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded.

"I understand," Star replied as she grabbed her Star Color Pen and squeezed it tight, "We'll take care of the distraction—you just worry about saving Aiwan!"

Cosmo looked over at Star, then both of them nodded in unison. Star then hopped away with the other girls close behind, pens at the ready and faces filled with determination.

"HEY! YOU!" Star exclaimed as she glared down the Notrigger, "Over here!"

In moments, gigantic stars, lightning bolts, fireballs and volleys of arrows rained down on the Notrigger right as it turned to face Star! With a groan of pain it stumbled backwards and held its head, now completely absorbed in the other Cures' attack… Now was the time, and Cosmo couldn't waste it!

With all the nimble speed of a cat, Cosmo sneaked behind the Notrigger, then latched onto its gigantic finger and climbed up its arm. Her grasp was held tight onto its body, though with how frantically the Notrigger moved it kind of had to be. Then, she scurried up its arm and finally seated herself on its shoulder.

A cursory look down showed that she was only inches away from the compartment where the victim was stored—and now that the Notrigger had taken a pause to breath, Cosmo had the perfect chance!

_Aiwan… _Cosmo thought as she slid down the Notrigger's shoulder, _I'm coming!_

And just like that, Cosmo dove into the blackened heart and disappeared from the battlefield with a ripple…

§

Yuni shuddered as she opened her eyes.

She wasn't in the battlegrounds anymore—no, this place was far from that. It was lush, and colorful, and full of weird plants and so large and overwhelming. She felt so small as she glazed up at a twisted, purple tree…

"How'd I get here, anyways?" Yuni asked as she clasped a hand over her heart.

Yuni frowned as she looked over the lush settings—all she remembered last was her jumping into the heart of the monster Aiwan had been turned into… But how could it send her here?

And for that matter… She felt kind of strange too, as if something in her had greatly changed. With a frown Yuni looked down as her slender, gloved hand…

Except it was furry, yellow and noticeably gloveless!

"WHAT THE—"

Yuni looked down at herself in a frantic movement. She wasn't Cure Cosmo anymore… Heck, she wasn't even in her human disguise! Rather, she was in her true Rainbownian form, with her Star Color Pendant rested around her neck. A cursory check of her pockets showed that her Star Color Pen and the Rainbow Perfume were both missing as well—of all the rotten…

Yuni shook her head. Wherever she was, she needed to get back to the battlefield—maybe one of the locals could give her some directions. As she looked back at the tree, she saw a small figure with long blond hair, dressed in a fancy pastel dress with too much lace and even more ribbons that hummed to themself. That's a good as place to start as any…

"Hey, excuse me." Yuni walked up to the figure and tapped their shoulder, "Do you know where we—"

"Huh?" The figure uttered as they turned around and revealed their bright pink, one-eyed face… Wait, no, it couldn't be!

"AIWAN?!" Yuni exclaimed as she leaned back in shock.

That girl, it looked just like Aiwan! Well, a younger Aiwan, anyways. It had her same eye, same face markings… But it didn't really have Aiwan's malice and mischief in their gaze—just cheery, youthful innocence.

"How do you know my name?" The girl asked as she frowned and spun around the psychedelically-colored flower in her hand.

"Uh, er, well—" Yuni's arms dropped as her eyes darted from side to side.

"Eh." Aiwan shrugged and went back to plucking strange flowers, "Who are you, anyways?"

"I'm, er, I'm…" Yuni bit her lip. She didn't know what was going on, but something in her felt that it wouldn't be wise to give Aiwan her true identity.

"I'm, meow, I'm, er, just a visitor here! I came to this planet, but I'm lost…" Yuni scratched her cheek, "Could you show me around?"

Aiwan blinked a couple times, then giggled. Looks like she bought it—thank the Star Princesses.

"Sure, just follow me!" Aiwan grabbed Yuni's hand and promptly dragged her away with a tad bit of impatience. Yup, this was Aiwan alright.

"First, I'll show you my house! It's the biggest house on the whole planet! Maybe even the whole galaxy!"

Aiwan led Yuni to a psychedelically-colored wall that happened to have a brick missing. With another giggle Aiwan launched herself into the passage and crawled away.

"Come on, follow me!"

Yuni made a weary sigh, then warily followed Aiwan through the passageway. It was dark and rough, and the only sounds were of them crawling through—thankfully, the path seemed to be fairly straightforward. _Seemed_ being the keyword.

"Mama says I'm not really supposed to run outside to play, but everything's so boring in here!" Aiwan explained as she crawled away, then paused to giggle, "It's a lot more fun sneaking out and messing with the flowers."

Yuni was entirely silent as she listened to Aiwan ramble all about the secret passageways and her home and family. However, her mind wasn't entirely on that—moreso, it was on her current location.

_Is this a dream? A trap?_ Yuni thought as she dutifully crawled behind Aiwan, _Both?_

"Here it is!" Aiwan shouted as she nudged a brick just slightly enough to make a small passageway, "This'll take us to the dining room! Look!"

Yuni nudged herself next to Aiwan and peered through the crack. It depicted a fancy carpet and a fraction of a table, with a bunch of aliens in extravagant, flamboyant clothing all asleep on its floor. It all seemed pretty ritzy—if this was Aiwan's home, she must have come from a pretty wealthy family. Huh, never would have guessed.

"See, there's mama and papa!" Aiwan chuckled as she looked through the crack, "I don't know what they're doing, sleeping on the floor! Grownups are so silly~"

"You got them all?" Asked a gruff voice across the room.

Aiwan frowned and tilted her head slightly. Clearly that wasn't a voice she was used to hearing.

"Should have," said another voice as someone stepped in with another, tinier body dangled close to theirs, "Found this little rat in that nursery over there, what'dya say we do with 'em?"

"Mommy! Daddy!" Cried a childlike voice as the tiny body struggled.

"That's my brother!" Aiwan shouted as her eye grew wide, "But what's he doing with those strangers?"

"QUIET, YOU IMP!" Shouted the gruff-voiced person as they withdrew something—a canister?

"Wha-what's going on?!" Aiwan whispered, a sense of fear in her voice as her body seemed to have froze.

The person uncorked the canister as Aiwan's brother's screams grew frantic, then the sound of a bottle being emptied was heard as the boy's struggling ended. Soon enough, only silence came from the room…

"Good riddance," The person who had once held the body sneered as they tossed it onto the floor.

Aiwan whimpered as her arms shook and tears formed in her eye, the realization now in her mind—and Yuni's as well.

"Mom?… Dad?… No, no…"

Yuni could only bring herself to crawl closer and grab Aiwan's hand, then crawled away at a speed she never thought she could manage outside of Cure form.

"Come on, we need to get out of here!" Yuni exclaimed at as low a volume she could.

"But, my mom! My dad! My brother!" Aiwan protested as she tried to pull away from Yuni's grip.

"Do you want to end up like them?! Hurry up!" Yuni went silent as she felt Aiwan pull away one last time, then go limp.

A cursory look back showed that Aiwan had gone completely silent, her gaze cast aside as Yuni pulled them both through the beginning of the tunnel. As they both fell onto the grass and sat back up, all was silent save for the wind.

Then Aiwan sniffled. And sniffled some more. Finally, she hung her head and wailed with a raw kind of sorrow Yuni had never seen come out of her before.

"Aiwan…" Yuni could only whispered as she stroked Aiwan's cheek, then gently laid a hand on Aiwan's shoulder.

Though she couldn't say a word about it, Yuni was stricken with both silent fear and realization as to where she was now.

She was in Aiwan's memories.

§

The scenery turned bright before it evaporated completely, only liminal white space left. When Yuni looked at Aiwan, she found that Aiwan was back to normal! Well, aside from the fact that Aiwan was still crying hard.

Yuni, meanwhile, was silent as she processed everything she had just seen. Aiwan never liked to speak of her past during her time in the Notraiders, even to Bakenyan—was this why?

"Bakenyan…" Aiwan croaked, her frown turned to a scowl as she punched Yuni in the chest—though her punch was too weak to do any real damage, "You stupid cat!"

Aiwan just burrowed herself in sobs once more, her wails echoed around the room.

Yuni could only bite her lip as she watched Aiwan cry. On one hand, this was the Aiwan that turned her entire planet to stone. The Aiwan that sold all her home's treasures to further research that would destroy the galaxy. The Aiwan that nearly killed her and the other Precure more times than she could count.

But… Aiwan was still a kid. And more importantly, she was a kid who had lost her home and her family…

Just like Yuni did.

"Aiwan—"

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY MY NAME!" Aiwan clenched her teeth as she wiped away her tears, "You lied to me this whole time! You played all nice with me and acted like you cared, and then you, you, you like…"—Aiwan looked up and glared down Yuni, her eye red and puffy from crying so much—"YOU JUST ABANDONED ME LIKE IT WAS LIKE, NOTHING!"

Aiwan sniffled a few more times, then stood up—though her legs trembled from pain.

"Now you think you can like, just swoop back in and act all cool, trying to like, save me and stuff?" Aiwan gritted her teeth and turned away, "LIKE, FORGET IT!"

"Aiwan, please!" Yuni tried to grab Aiwan's hand again, but Aiwan slapped her away.

"At least Lord Darknest, like, won't abandon me like you did." Aiwan sniffled some more as her voice cracked, "He promised me that like, I could like, have anything I wanted when he ruled! I could be the queen of this whole galaxy if I want! And he actually means it, unlike you!"

"But Aiwan, Darknest doesn't really care about you!" Yuni bore a fanged scowl, "Don't you remember what he did to you when he nyearly killed you?!"

"He was just like, trying to make me stronger! I just, like, didn't do enough research to predict how strong he was!" Aiwan balled her hand into a fist, "And like, even when I ran off he still welcomed me back and gave me all this power!"

"He's just using you to further his own goals! Once he's done with you… I can't even imagine what he'd do!" Yuni shuddered and grabbed Aiwan's arm, "Aiwan, please, just come back with me. You'll be better off with us, I purromise."

"How do I know you're not just, like, lying like you usually do?" Aiwan shuddered and fell to her knees, then hung her head, "How do I know you're not just gonna leave me again?"

"Because, Aiwan. I lost my home and my family too—"

"BECAUSE OF ME! So why would you, like, come back for me?" Aiwan gritted her teeth again as she held her face, "I don't like, get it!"

"Because I know how much it hurts!" Yuni shouted at such a volume and with so much emotion it even shocked her as her eyes snapped out.

Aiwan was shocked completely silent, then slowly turned to face Yuni.

"I understand how much it hurt you to lose your family." Yuni knelt down to Aiwan's view and gently caressed Aiwan's cheek again, a moment of pause taken to wipe away Aiwan's tears, "Especially when you were so little. You were just a kid—you shouldn't have had to deal with so much."

Aiwan whimpered and clasped her hands. It was clear she had no idea what to say to Yuni's spiel—even though it was obviously something she had been needing to hear.

"But, that doesn't mean you have to resign yourself to this." Yuni stood up and shook her head, "The Precure showed me that even when I thought I was alone, that I couldn't trust anyone… I wasn't!"

Yuni's frown turned to a gentle smile as she held her free hand out towards Aiwan.

"They fought for me, and helped me like I was one of their own! Even when I tried to push them away… And they're doing the same for you too."

"Really?" Aiwan barely whimpered, only able to stare at Yuni in a state of wonder.

"Yes." Yuni firmly nodded, "They're out there as we speak, fighting so hard so I could reach out and save you. Heck, even back during that fight… It was Star's idea to rescue you,"—Yuni's tone took a more gentle one, like she was talking to a sibling or a friend—"She saw how much pain you were in, and didn't want you to suffer!"

Aiwan just stayed silent. It was almost like she was prompting Yuni to go on, as if she was waiting for Yuni to say something else.

"I'm sure she… No, I'm sure they'd all welcome you with open arms! And I…"

Pulled in by emotion, Yuni could only reach forward and hug Aiwan tight.

"I know I abandoned you before, and I'm sorry. I had no idea how vulnerable you were when I left you. But this time it'll be different!" Yuni paused for a moment as she stroked Aiwan's back, "I'm not going to leave you behind again, I promise! You, and I, and all the other Precure… We'll all be together."

"Really?" Aiwan's trembling grew worse as she looked up at Yuni, tears welled in her eye.

"Yes." Yuni made a fanged, gentle smile, "We'll be like a family!"

Aiwan just couldn't take it anymore after that—all she did was burst into tears and curl up close to Yuni's chest.

"There, there." Yuni gently stroked Aiwan's back and cuddled Aiwan even tighter, "Let's leave this place nyow, alright?"

Aiwan didn't reply, she just snuggled closer to Yuni as they both were enveloped in a harsh light…

§

When Cosmo opened her eyes again, she was back in the heat of the battle, with Aiwan still safely in her grasp. They were all surrounded by the Precure, Kappard and Tenjou, all with wide eyes and tiny pupils as if they didn't believe Cosmo or Aiwan would make it out alive. As Cosmo looked at herself, she found herself in transformation once more, thankfully, while Aiwan stood close to her side.

"Aiwan, are you…" Cosmo asked as she turned to Aiwan—only for Aiwan to stumble and collapse!

Cosmo leaped into action immediately as she caught Aiwan, then cradled Aiwan like a child. Aiwan's breath was shallow and her heartbeat was erratic—she clearly took Darknest's power surge worse than the others, and she'd only get worse if she stuck around here.

"Prunce!" Cosmo watched as Prunce zipped to her side.

"Yes-purunsu?" Prunce asked.

"Take Aiwan back to the rocket." Cosmo stretched out her arms as if she was handing off Aiwan to Prunce, "She isn't well."

"Understood-purunsu!" Prunce inflated himself to the size of a large meteor, then lifted Aiwan in his tentacles and hugged her tight before he flew off.

"Kappard, you should go back too," Star said as she looked up at Kappard and held his hand, "It's not really safe here."

"Are you sure you girls can handle this?" Tenjou asked as she looked down at Soleil and Selene, a frown of concern on her face.

"Don't worry about us," Soleil said with a sunny, reassuring smile, "We've been preparing for this!"

"If you say so…" Kappard made a weak frown as he looked up at Darknest one last time, then ran off with Tenjou close by.

As they ran to safety, the five Precure all trained their eyes on Darknest. He had cleared changed during the time they had spent rescuing the Notraiders—now he was large, and intimidating, and juiced up with the imaginations of an entire planet's population and only heaven knows what else. But no matter what, they had to fight!

For their family, for their friends and all the people who laid unconscious on Earth's streets.

For the planet they all called home, and all the other planets in the galaxy that Darknest would set his sights on.

For Kappard and Tenjou and Aiwan, who were patiently awaiting them from the safety of their rocket, who had lost so much and were banking on the Precures' success to find the new lives they had been promised.

For everyone who all helped them get to where they were now.

But most of all, for the bright, shining creativity that was threatened by Darknest's rampage. For the powerful visions that was the driving force in getting them to where they were now.

For imagination!

"Ready girls?" Star shouted as she looked around at the other Cures, her eyes narrowed.

"You bet we are!"


	5. Chapter 5

They did it.

They had beaten Darknest.

Hikaru's head spun as she thought of everything that had happened—between that cool new power-up and that big flashy battle and all the screaming and hitting and adrenaline, she was sure her head was going to explode if she thought about it anymore!

So that's why she, oddly enough, remained completely silent as she walked the path down the observatory. She spoke not a word, but the relieved look she held on her face as she took in the pathway that was now completely restored to its former beauty said it all.

"I'll meet up with you later," Elena said as she took a step forward and raced off, only a moment of pause taken to wave back at the others, "I need to make sure my family's okay! Ciao!"

"And I should check on my parents as well," Madoka remarked as she watched Elena run out of view, then turned back to the others, "I will join you at the rocket later!"

"Alright-lun!" Lala replied as she watched Madoka leave, then made a weak smile.

All was quite as Madoka and Elena left them, then finally Lala heaved a relieved sigh.

"I almost can't believe all that happened-lun," Lala remarked as she ruffled her turquoise hair, "Or that we even won-lun!"

"I don't blame you," Yuni replied as she crossed her arms and watched a couple leaves blow off of a nearby tree, "The way things were restored, it was like nyothing ever happened…"

"But wasn't it so TWINCOOL!?" Hikaru exclaimed at last as she leaped in front of Lala and Yuni then spun around, "We were all like—"—Hikaru proceeded to make a variety of wild poses—"'BLAM!' 'POW!' 'WHOOSH!' 'BANBAN!'"

Hikaru's breath dropped into pants as she slowed down and held her heart, which beat at exhilarated, cheerful speeds.

"And then he just. Disappeared! Just like that! And we got all those cool dresses and that really fancy new weapon and, and…"

Finally, Hikaru drew into silence once more. There was so much that she wanted to say, so many things she wanted to scream about, even! But she couldn't find the words to truly describe how epic that was, and maybe that was alright—some things are just so amazing that they can't entirely be described, after all.

This was just one of those things.

"And Fuwa helped too-fuwa!" Fuwa proclaimed as she flew towards Hikaru and nuzzled Hikaru's chest.

"Yes you did, Fuwa!" Hikaru chirped as she gently patted Fuwa's head.

"It did feel good to finally send Darknest running with his tail between his legs," Yuni smirked, a rare smile on her normally-somber face for only moments, "But somehow… I get the feeling we haven't seen the last of him quite yet."

"Lun," Lala added as she cast an aside glance, then shook her head, "But, there's not much else we can do right now-lun. If even the Star Princesses don't know where he went, then I don't think we're better off-lun."

"That's alright," Hikaru chirped as she skipped ahead, "We can worry about him later! Let's just go back to the rocket and check on our new friends!"

Lala and Yuni both exchanged a knowing, humored glance, then walked side-by-side with Hikaru down the way. It felt so satisfying just to see the autumn leaves as they cascaded down on the rich, green grass, to see the ponds and lakes babble without a care in the world, to see the birds fly through cloudless skies and land on pristine rooftops… The very sight of the world, so at peace after the fruits of their labor was just too good!  
In fact, they all drank in the sights so much that they hadn't even noticed they had returned to the rocket! But sure enough, there they were—and goodness, it felt so nice to see everything as nice and pretty as it was before all of the Notraider takeover nonsense happened!

It filled Hikaru with a bit more energy as she skipped to the bridge, then turned around and leaned over its railing to see…

None other than Kappard as he floated on his back in the pond! His gaze was trained on the skies as he aimlessly bobbed in the waters, clearly lost in his own thoughts… The way he floated kind of reminded Hikaru of an otter, just a bit.

"HI, KAPPARD!" Hikaru exclaimed as she leaned further against the railing and waved, "WE'RE BACK FROM KICKING DARKNEST'S BUTT!"

Kappard, in response, jolted forward and unintentionally dove head first into the pond! His body cast an underwater shadow or whatever they were called, then in a few seconds he bobbed back up with a frightened look on his face—clearly he hadn't expected her to come back.

"Chill out, it's just us!" Hikaru chirped as she noticed Kappard reach for his weapon and knelt down, "We're not gonna hurt'cha—we're friends now, after all!"

"… Friends?" Kappard said at last as he slowly, cautiously swam up to Hikaru, then reeled back as she gently poked his forehead.

"Yep!" Hikaru giggled and tilted her head, "Isn't that what I just said?"

Kappard didn't entertain Hikaru with a further answer—he just swam over to the island where the rocket resided and pulled himself back onto dry land with a grunt.

"And now that we're friends…" Hikaru raced forward and latched Kappard into a tight hug, "We're gonna have so much fun together! I'll show you all around Mihoshi, and we can go the observatory and get Star Donuts and check out all the cool stores and stuff in the shopping district—"—Hikaru hugged Kappard even tighter as she bounced up and down—"It'll be so TWIN-COOL!"

"Hikaru, you might want to calm down-lun," Lala remarked as she joined them, "I think you're overwhelming him-lun."

Hikaru looked up to see that Kappard did, indeed, have a slightly awkward grimace on his face as he turned away from her view.

"But, that can wait for later too," Hikaru said as she smiled and let go of her death-grip hug, "We can do it whenever you like! After all, this is your home now!"

"It took you girls long enough," chuckled a familiar womanly voice as the rocket's door slid open… And revealed Tenjou!

"Tenjou!" Lala exclaimed as Tenjou sauntered past her and walked across the bridge.

"You all can go back inside," Tenjou replied with a wave of her hand, not much attention paid to the others' stares, "I'm going to get some fresh air."

Before any of them could reply, another voice could barely be heard in the distance as somebody else zipped to their side—Prunce!

"Everyone!" Prunce called as he zoomed up to the girls and hovered in midair, "You're back-purunsu! And good timing too—I've got to tell you all something-purunsu!"

"Is it about Aiwan?" Yuni asked, her voice seasoned with a bit of reluctance as she looked back at Prunce.

"Mm-hmm." Prunce floated down to the hallways, "Follow me-purunsu."

Yuni trailed after Prunce as they both disappeared down the halls, which left only Hikaru, Lala and Kappard as they stood outside the rocket's open door. With a shrug, Hikaru skipped in side the rocket and plopped down on one of its chairs, its soft cushion a welcome rest from such a hard, heart-throbbing day.

"Now, where was I?…" Hikaru said as she watched Lala and Kappard take a seat as well, "Oh, right! I was talking about all the cool places in Mihoshi that I can show you around! See, there's the…"

Hikaru trailed off just a bit as she saw Kappard avoid her gaze in an almost hesitant manner, then leaned out of her seat and hugged him tight! His earlier swim made him feel chilly, but Hikaru didn't mind—in fact, it was quite the opposite! The cold was… Refreshing, almost, like jumping into a crystal-clear pond on a sweltering summer day!

"Y'know, I did mean it when I said we were friends now—you don't have to act so cold!" Hikaru chirped as she squeezed a taken-aback Kappard tight, "Didn't you have friends on your home planet?"

"On my planet, there were no such things as 'friends,'" Kappard insisted as he tried—and failed—to push Hikaru away, "You only had allies, or enemies. That was all."

"BUT! We're on Earth now!" Hikaru poked his nose and chuckled as she let go of Kappard, "And here, we can have all the fun we want!"

Hikaru flopped back into her chair with an ever-wide grin, then looked back over to Kappard—but he didn't seem any more open than before. In fact, he seemed more pensive as his gaze traveled all around the rocket's hub room with an almost wary sort of feeling.

"I don't quite understand it… We've been nothing but enemies up till now." Kappard placed a fist against his chin, "I've opposed you, and tried to harm you and your allies more times than I could count… And yet, you've still chosen to welcome me with open arms,"—Kappard almost reluctantly turned to look at Hikaru—"Why is that?"

"Bah, that stuff's old news now!" Hikaru waved a hand as she beamed back at Kappard, "What matters is what happens now! Like what we'll do once you guys get settled here!"

Kappard made a confused glance towards Hikaru, perhaps still uncertain of what she meant by her words.

"You're not really going to get an answer other than that-lun," Lala remarked as she watched Kappard turn towards her, her words tinged with a sense of amusement.

With a slight shrug, Kappard turned his gaze back on Hikaru, while Hikaru smiled back up at him.

Hikaru then rambled on and on and on about all the things they could do, but this time, Kappard didn't seem wary—in fact, he seemed almost kind of amused as he watched her talk! And that only made Hikaru's heart feel just a bit warmer… Was he finally starting to open up at last?

"And that's just Mihoshi alone!" Hikaru took a deep breath and panted, then slunk down in her chair and held a hand over her stomach, "Just wait 'till I get to the rest of Japan!"

"You really have a wild imagination, don't you, girl?" Kappard made an amused chuckle as Hikaru caught her breathed.

"I get that a lot!" Hikaru chirped as she grinned up at Kappard.

And with that, Kappard swiveled his chair around and peered up at the rocket's window, where warm sunlight shone down from the heavens like sweet nectar.

"You know…" Kappard leaned back in his chair, "I might just enjoy staying on this planet."

§

All was quiet around Tenjou as she leaned against the walls of that shopping district, her mind absorbed in the sights of the natural world around her. She had never really stopped to take it in before, but this place was quite beautiful and full of life for being such a backwater planet. It was nothing like her old home, so ravaged and wartorn…

She could just sit there and watch the world pass her by forever, in all honesty.

Though, that wasn't going to happen—she could've sworn she saw those two cures in the distance... Elena and Madoka, she thought their names were? She never quite kept track of those things, given she had no reason to till now. Madoka, or whatever the purple-haired one's name was, stood on the sidelines as Elena was embraced by a number of humans who Tenjou guessed were probably her family. They certainly had the resemblance, after all.

Though she couldn't hear what they were saying, both Elena and her family were clearly so happy to be together…

Then finally, they let go and Elena and Madoka walked back out the open gate of the shopping district. As soon as they turned the corner, they made eye contact with Tenjou and let out small gasps of surprise.

"Tenjou!" Madoka said as she walked up to Tenjou and rested a hand on the wall, "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to get some fresh air, that was all," Tenjou replied with a smirk as she looked away.

Truthfully, that wasn't her real answer—something in her had wanted to see Elena and Madoka again after that big fight. It was a kind of unrest, like a question that wouldn't leave you alone until it was answered.

"Feeling any better?" Elena asked as she walked around and rested to Tenjou's right.

"I suppose so," Tenjou replied, her gaze averted from theirs as she walked away, "Come on, we should probably meet the others."

All was silent as they carefully sneaked past the more populated areas and slunk back to the forest. Tenjou had memorized this route quite a couple times when she scouted the earth for Princess Pens, and it served her quite well right now.

"Just where have you two been, exactly?" Tenjou asked as the girls' hideout finally came in sight.

The three of them were silent yet again until they finally walked back onto the bridge.

"Checking on our families, of course!" Elena made a warm smile as she watched the light's reflection dance in the pond water, "I'm so glad they're alright… I don't know what I would've done if something happened to them!"

"Likewise," Madoka added as she toyed with the ribbon on her dress, "I was so scared when I saw my parents unconscious like they were…"

"Huh. Must be nice," Tenjou whispered as she rested her arm against the bridge's railing and frowned, "Having people you can come back to when all's said and done."

Tenjou's frown deepened as she watched her reflection in the water, so wavered and uncertain… Then Elena's reflection joined hers as Elena laid a hand on Tenjou's own.

"Well… You have us now!" Elena replied as she gently squeezed Tenjou's hand, "I'm sure that counts for something!"

As Tenjou felt the warmth of Elena's hand, she found herself… Smiling? But strangely, it didn't seem like the cocky, overly reassured smirks she usually made… No, this one felt almost warm, almost genuine.

"What is this feeling?" Tenjou asked herself and herself only as she looked down at a gloved hand.

"By all accounts, I should be concerned, maybe angry, even…" Tenjou cast an aside glance at Elena and Madoka, who looked back at her with a tad bit of confusion, "But for once, I finally feel at peace… And I can't possibly understand why."

"I guess that's just the wonders of the Earth," Elena remarked as the breeze caressed her golden blonde hair, "This place always makes me feel calm when I'm here, too!"

"It truly is…" Tenjou's smile faded as quickly as it had come, her mouth now painted in a regret-filled frown, "Could I really be able to call this place home?"

"You know," Madoka remarked as she watched the sunlight sparkle against the pond water, "My father works in a government branch dedicated to dealing with aliens. I'm sure we could create some kind of living arrangement here for you and the others…"

"That's not quite what I meant." Tenjou's frown only deepened, "Could such a wonderful place truly house someone with a past like mine? Could I ever truly be accepted by these people?"

The once peaceful aura around turned grim as Elena picked up on Tenjou's feelings, and Madoka soon after. They both stared at her with such concern, such pity, as if they felt everything she herself was feeling from the bottom of their hearts.

"Well, if you need someone to turn to, I'll always be here!" Elena said at last as she made a soft smile, "I did mean what I said back then, you know."

"And I as well," Madoka added with an earnest tone.

Upon hearing their words, Tenjou made a soft chuckle. The thorns in her heart felt like they had been slowly pried from their grip, just this once. While a part of her wasn't so ready to fully accept that these girls who were once her enemies were so quick to welcome her with open arms, no strings attached… Another, bigger part of her felt more encouraged by it than anything.

"Well, if I really am going to change my ways," Tenjou said as she lifted her hands towards her mask, "I suppose I should take that first step you were talking about."

And with a careful movement of her hands, Tenjou removed her mask for her face and clutched it tight while her eyes wandered towards her reflection in the pond. It now depicted a bare face, with pinkish-whitish-looking skin under where her mask once laid that stood out quite a bit from the light red skintone the rest of her body took. Hopefully some sunshine would even her complexion out eventually…

"On my home planet," Tenjou explained as she held out the mask, "These masks were given to high-ranking military officials. To obtain one was seen as a badge of honor…"—Tenjou bore a twisted frown as her gaze on it tightened—"But now… I don't think I could ever wear it with good conscience."

So, Tenjou leaned her arms back, shot them forwards… And watched as her mask flew from her hands and sunk into the depths of the pond. As she watched it fade from her view, she didn't cry, nor did she burst into rage… Rather, she smiled, as if a great burden had finally been lifted from her heart and she could breath once more.

As she smiled, she looked down at Elena and Madoka, who both returned her happiness with a proud gleam in their eyes, as if they were silently applauding her in their own, special way.

Tenjou wasn't entirely sure she understood everything that had happened this past day, and she was sure there was a lot more to come that she wouldn't understand, too… But a part of her was okay with that.

After all, she did have those girls by her side, and there was something strange about them that made her feel like for once, everything would be alright.

§

Yuni's footsteps were light and almost gingerly as she followed Prunce through the rocket's halls. This rocket, which had now started to feel just a bit like home to her at last, felt so strange and foreign—but maybe it was the anticipation for the confrontation ahead messing with her. Yeah, that was probably it.

"Aiwan's condition has gotten a bit better since the battle-purunsu," Prunce explained as he hovered in front of Yuni, "Her heart rate's returned to normal and so has her breathing, but she's still not entirely back yet-purunsu,"—Prunce stopped for a bit and looked down at the floor—"She'll need a couple days of bed rest at the least-purunsu."

"It was that bad, huh?" Yuni asked, a worn kind of dryness in her voice. She was still pretty tired out from that big battle, but some strange part of her heart wouldn't let her rest until she saw Aiwan.

"Unfortunately, yes-purunsu."

While Prunce carried on, Yuni's eyes glazed towards the door of the rocket's makeshift "kitchen." With a frown, she turned away and headed inside.

"I'll meet with you in a bit," Yuni said, "I need to do something first."

"Alright then, I'll be waiting in Hikaru's room-purunsu!" Prunce shouted in the distance as he flew out of Yuni's sight.

Once he left, Yuni frowned as she examined the various shelves of rations with a critical eye.

The "kitchen" was, less of a kitchen and more of a storage room, really—it was filled to the brims with boxes of whatever food they might need in case of long trips, from those cosmo gummies that Lala loved so much to Earth foods like candy and boxes of cereals to some weird space cuisine they had picked up on their many travels. But, food wasn't entirely what she needed right now—it was onto the drinks section!

As she hummed one of the many songs she had sung as Mao, Yuni passed the food by then watched as the shelves slowly morphed into shelves filled with drinks like water bottles and…

"A-ha, there it is!" Yuni proclaimed as she pulled a small box labeled "Brickleberry Tea" and looked over its top.

It seemed to have been broken into already, as the packaging had been torn open somewhat haphazardly—Hikaru's doing, maybe? Probably. Inside were rows upon rows of oddly-shaped, purplish-pink bottles that had labels with the flavor and nutritional information printed on them in alien text.

Yuni withdrew a small bottle from the box, then carefully put it away and walked back outside the kitchen. Hikaru's room shouldn't have been that far from the kitchen, just a few doors past and…

Yuni stopped in front of a door that had cracked out a good bit, and peered inside to find that she had, indeed, stopped in Hikaru's room.

There, Aiwan rested inside the confines of Hikaru's bed, carefully tucked in and fast asleep. Her face did seem paler than usual, and her mouth was twisted into a kinda sickly-looking frown, but other than that she did look fine.

Prunce hovered close by as he felt her forehead, then withdrew his tentacle and flew up to Yuni.

"Any better?" Yuni asked as she gripped tight the tea bottle she had claimed earlier.

Before Prunce could open his mouth and speak, they both heard some soft grunts and looked back to see Aiwan stir in her sleep, then sit up and rub her eye.

"… I'll leave you two alone now-purunsu," Prunce said as he flew out of the room.

Now, it was only her and Aiwan—and Yuni wasn't entirely sure if she was more relieved or worried. After all, who knew how Aiwan could react—she could be relieved, or she could be out for blood and ready to kill. You never really knew with Aiwan.

Or, maybe, Yuni was a bit wary as to how she herself would react—the very person that had driven Rainbow into ruins now sat within Yuni's very grasp… Yet, this was the same person who had been so deeply wounded by Yuni's own deception and abandonment of her.

Yuni's heart swirled with conflicting emotions she couldn't quite pin down—some sympathy, some compassion, yet some desire to stay away and scorn. She really was a cosmic mystery girl, wasn't she?

Yuni suppressed a chuckle as she finally took another step forward—regardless of feelings, she did rescue Aiwan from Darknest's clutches. She at least owed Aiwan a quick follow-up.

As Aiwan finally opened her eye and looked around, Yuni made a wary smile.

"So…" Yuni said at last, "Meow're you doing?"

Aiwan gave Yuni a startled look, then turned away and shrugged, a twitchy frown on her face. The way she acted, it almost seemed like she was just as conflicted about this as Yuni was, which definitely took a little bit of the edge off of the situation.

"I brought you something." Yuni sat down on the bed, then opened the tea container she had gotten and passed it along to Aiwan.

Aiwan stared at Yuni for a bit, then warily took the container from Yuni and looked it over. She was so quiet, so demure, it felt almost _wrong_ to see her like this when she was normally the total opposite.

"Brickleberry?" Aiwan read as she tilted her head, "That's like, my favorite!"

"I know," Yuni chuckled as her tail twitched with anticipation, "You'd never stop bugging me for it."

Aiwan huffed, then took a small sip of the tea and put it on Hikaru's dresser.

Silence echoed throughout the room as Aiwan turned away and tugged on the sheets of Hikaru's bed, her face dusted with a bright magenta blush. It seemed like she was thinking of something to say—or maybe she didn't want to say anything at all.

Either way, the tension only allowed Yuni to twitch in place as she looked away as well. It was a stalemate, with neither of them willing to speak to the other—lest the floodgates risk opening.

"So…" Aiwan's voice was barely higher than a whisper as she finally gathered the will to speak, "Mao, or Blue Cat, or Bakenyan, or whatever your, like, name is…"

"Yuni." Yuni turned around and looked at Aiwan, who in return gazed at her with a bit of shock, "That's… My real name."

"Yuni?" Aiwan echoed Yuni's name with a tone of disbelief.

"Mm-hmm." Yuni nodded slightly, then her neutral expression turned into a small, kind smile, "If we're going to be family from now on, shouldn't we at least know each others' names?"

Aiwan's eye rang with surprise as her mouth dropped into an o-shape. Perhaps she hadn't expected Yuni to be upfront with her—if Yuni was in her shoes, she supposed she would be, too.

"You're kinda, like, right, I guess." Aiwan scoffed and looked away, her blush even more prominent than before, "I'm tired. Go away."

"I suppose I'll leave you to rest, then—you are gonna need it." Yuni stood up, but not before she glance down at Aiwan and nodded, "You'll be pretty busy from now on."

"Like, what does that mean?" Aiwan gave Yuni a confused frown.

"Mew'll find out for yourself~"

Yuni walked out of the room as Aiwan scoffed… Then paused and rested her back against the wall as she breathed a sigh of relief. That… Certainly went a lot better than Yuni anticipated it would. Then again, she wasn't entirely sure how it would go in the first place.

A part of her felt she should rejoin the others and see how they were doing, but a bigger part of her didn't want to leave Aiwan just yet. So, she carefully sneaked a glimpse back in the bedroom… And watched Aiwan take the brickleberry tea back off the dresser and drink it with a smile.

_Maybe things will work out this time, _Yuni thought as she made a smile of her own, _For the both of us._


End file.
